The unfortunate man, having finished his packing, had sat down on the
spruce log with his face to the fire, and his back to the dense woods,
to wait for his companion. While thus waiting, his monstrous assailant,
which must have been lurking nearby in the woods, waiting for a chance
to catch one of the adventurers unprepared, came silently up from
behind, walking with long, noiseless steps, and seemingly still on two
legs. Evidently unheard, it reached the man, and broke his neck while
it buried its teeth in his throat. It had not eaten the body, but
apparently had romped and gambolled round it in uncouth, ferocious glee,
occasionally rolling over and over it; and had then fled back into the
soundless depths of the woods.
Bauman, utterly unnerved, and believing that the creature with which he
had to deal was something either half human or half devil, some great
goblin-beast, abandoned everything but his rifle and struck off at speed
down the pass, not halting until he reached the beaver meadows where the
hobbled ponies were still grazing.
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