"That would be something worth seeing, sir," Lil Artha told him, "and we'll hope it turns out that way."
George had scrambled to his feet as soon as he realized that the danger was over. He looked a little ashamed, but there was no occasion for feeling that way. When any one is unarmed, and sees such a fury as that wildcat certainly was coming in his direction, he would be foolish indeed not to dodge, and even hug the ground in an effort to escape contact with those cruel poisonous claws.
"Gee whiz! look at the sharp teeth, would you; and then those open claws," Lil Artha continued, as he bent down and took one of the dead cat's feet in his fingers; "excuse me from meeting up with such a crazy customer when walking through the woods at sundown. I might manage to get the best of the beast, but my bully khaki suit would be in ribbons, and mebbe my face clawed into a map of Ireland."
"As for me," spoke up Toby, "I'd never feel easy if I knew such a terror was always hanging around, watching for a chance to grab me when my back was turned. And say what you will, Uncle Caleb, I'm tickled half to death because we bagged your pet cat before he had a chance to mark any of us. I tell you I'll enjoy my tramps around this section better after this. If he'd got away you wouldn't have caught Tobias Ellsworth Jones wandering fifty feet away from home base without carrying a club or a gun along. His room is going to be a whole sight better than his company."
Uncle Caleb smiled at hearing what his nephew thought.
"Perhaps you're right in saying that, Toby," he remarked, "and it may be that in pursuing my pet hobby I'm going too much to extremes in wanting to preserve the life of such a savage animal. Possibly your ending his career of piracy may be the means of saving me from a very unpleasant experience; for I was planning to push my campaign against this same cat, and follow him into his den, to get a good flashlight picture of what he looked like at home. It would have been a foolhardy experiment, I begin to realize. I suppose it's all for the best, and I'll cure the skin just to remember the adventure by."
Lil Artha, who had pushed up close to Elmer, managed to say in a low tone:
"I reckon that it was you knocked the stuffing out of the beast, Elmer, because I'm afraid I fired too low." But the scout master immediately hushed him up, and told him never to mention it again, for he felt sure both of them had made a hit.