THE BOYS AND THE WILDCAT
"Oh, what a night! What a night!"
It was Shep who uttered the words. The long spell of darkness had at last gone, and looking up overhead he could see a bit of sunshine striking the edge of the hollow.
In vain he had tried to get out of the tree. Every plan had proved unsuccessful, and he had been held a prisoner through the long hours which seemed to have no end.
He was both hungry and thirsty and had slept only by winks, as the saying goes.
He no longer dared to think of the future, fearing he would go mad. Was he really to remain there to die of thirst and hunger? Was the hollow tree to prove his coffin?
A bird fluttered down into the hollow and startled him. He raised his hand softly and tried to catch it, but like a flash the bird was gone, and he was left as lonely as before.
Another hour passed and his thirst seemed to grow upon him every minute. Then he grew desperate, and bracing himself, tried with all of his strength to burst the hollow tree asunder. But the effort availed nothing.
Presently he heard something that caused him to rouse up. It was the sound of a shotgun, discharged at a distance.
"They must be out—-perhaps they are looking for me!" he murmured. "I hope they come here!" And he breathed a silent prayer that they might not pass him by in his sore distress.