The narrow portion of the footway having been left behind, horse and rider came out into something of a hollow on the mountainside. Here and there were a number of loose rocks and also quite a growth of scrub timber. Dave was just passing through the densest of the timber when an overhanging branch caught his hat and sent it to the ground.
“Whoa there, Sport!” he cried, and bringing his horse to a halt, he leaped down to recover the hat.
Dave had just picked up the head covering when he heard a low sound coming from some bushes close at hand. It was not unlike the cry of a cat, and the youth was instantly on the alert. He remembered only too well how, when he had been at Star Ranch, a wildcat, commonly called in that section a bobcat, had gotten among the horses belonging to himself and his chums and caused no end of trouble.
The cry was followed by several seconds of intense silence, and then came the unmistakable snarl of a bobcat, followed instantly by a leap on the part of Sport.
“Whoa there!” cried Dave, and was just in time to catch the horse by the bridle. Then Sport veered around and kicked out viciously at the brushwood.
The bobcat was there, and evidently had no chance to retreat farther, the bushes being backed up by a number of high rocks. With a snarl, it leaped out into the open directly beside the horse and Dave. Then, as the horse switched around again and let fly with his hind hoofs, the bobcat made a flying leap past Dave, landing in the branches of a nearby tree.
“Whoa there, Sport!” cried the youth, and now lost no time in leaping into the saddle. In the meanwhile the bobcat sprang from one limb of the tree to another and disappeared behind some dense foliage.
Had our hero had a rifle or a shotgun, he might have gone on a hunt for the beast. But he carried only his small automatic, and he did not consider this a particularly good weapon with which to stir up the bobcat. He went on his way, and now Sport set off on a gallop, evidently glad to leave such a dangerous vicinity behind. Although horses are much larger, bobcats are such vicious animals that no horses care to confront them.
“I sure am having my fill of adventures to-day,” mused Dave grimly. “First Nick Jasniff, and now that bobcat! I’ll have to tell the others about the cat, and maybe we can organize a hunt and lay the beast low. The men won’t want to face a bobcat while at work any more than they would care to face that rattlesnake I shot.”
It was not long after this when the lights of the construction camp came into view, and soon Dave was riding down among the buildings. Roger was on the watch, and came forward to greet him.