d aloud. It is the same instinct that prompts the
panther to send his mating call ringing over the hills and through
the forest, and leads the moose to issue his loud challenge.

At last Young Matt turned to go, when he heard the sound of
voices. Someone was coming along the Old Trail that lay in full
view on the mountain side not two hundred yards away.
Instinctively the woodsman drew back into the thick foliage of the
cedars.

The voices grew louder. A moment more and Sammy with Ollie Stewart
appeared from around the turn of the hill. They were walking side
by side and talking earnestly. The young woman had just denied the
claims of her former lover, and was explaining the change in her
attitude toward him; but the big fellow on the ledge above could
not know that. He could not hear what they were saying. He only
saw his mate, and the man who had come to take her from him.

Half crouching on the rocky shelf in the dark shadow of the cedar,
the giant seemed a wild thing ready for his spring; ready and
eager, yet held in check by something more powerful still than his
passion. Slowly the two, following the Old Trail, passed from
sight, and Young Matt stood erect. He was trembling like a
frightened child. A moment longer he waited, then turned and
fairly ran from the place. Leaving the ledge at the Lookout, he
rushed down the mountain and through the woods as if mad, to burst
in upon the shepherd, with words that were half a cry, half a
groan. "He's come, Dad; he's come. I've just seen him with her."

Mr. Howitt sprang up with a startled exclamation. His face went
white. He grasped the table for support. He tried to speak, but
words would not come. He could only stare with frightened eyes, as
though Young Matt himself were some fearful apparition.

The big fellow threw himself into a chair, and presently the
shepherd managed to say in a hoarse whisper, "Tell me about it,
Grant, if you can."

"I seen them up on Dewey just now, goin' down the Old Trail from
Sammy's Lookout to her home. I was huntin' stock."

The old scholar leaned toward his friend, as he almost shouted,
"Saw them going to Sammy's home! Saw whom, lad? Whom did you see?"

"Why--why--Sammy Lane and that--that Ollie Stewart, of course. I
tell you he's come back. Come to take her away."

The reaction was almost as bad as the shock. Mr. Howitt gasped as
he dropped back into his seat. He felt a hysterical impulse to
laugh, to cry out. Young Matt cont