"I'm coming, I'm coming!" the dog responded. "Where are you?"
"Karr, Karr! Don't you see how it falls and falls?" said Grayskin.
Then Karr noticed that the pine needles kept dropping and dropping from
the trees, like a steady fall of rain.
"Yes, I see how it falls," he cried, and ran far into the forest in
search of the elk.
Grayskin kept running through the thickets, while Karr was about to lose
the trail again.
"Karr, Karr!" roared Grayskin; "can't you scent that peculiar odour in
the forest?"
Karr stopped and sniffed.
He had not thought of it before, but now he remarked that the pines sent
forth a much stronger odour than usual.
"Yes, I catch the scent," he said. He did not stop long enough to find
out the cause of it, but hurried on after Grayskin.
The elk ran ahead with such speed that the dog could not catch up with
him.
"Karr, Karr!" he called; "can't you hear the crunching on the pines?"
Now his tone was so plaintive it would have melted a stone.
Karr paused to listen. He heard a faint but distinct "tap, tap," on the
trees. It sounded like the ticking of a watch.
"Yes, I hear how it ticks," cried Karr, and ran no farther. He
understood that the elk did not want him to follow, but to take notice
of something that was happening in the forest.
Karr was standing beneath the drooping branches of a great pine.
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