"What's wanted?" questioned his twin. "Why don't you hurry up down so we can do some more hunting?"
"There is some wild animal in this tree!" answered Andy. "I don't know what it is, but it sounds like a wildcat."
"A wildcat!" burst out several of the others.
"And Andy hasn't any gun!" cried Gif. "Come on, let us see if we can't shoot the thing!"
"Go slow there," cautioned Jack. "Let us see if we can't locate it and find out what it is first. We don't want it to attack Andy while he is unarmed."
"Are you in any danger, Andy?" called out Fred.
"Where is the cat—or whatever it is?" asked Randy.
"It's just below me somewhere. I can't see it, but I can hear it plainly enough. It's moving around in those lower branches. I guess I had better stay up here for a while;" and as he spoke Andy mounted to a higher limb. With no weapon handy, he had no desire to face any wild animal.
Those below slowly circled the big cedar, keeping their eyes on the alert for a view of whatever might be prowling around among the branches. They had their guns ready for use, but realized that they must fire with great caution, or otherwise they might hit the lad who was in peril.
"I suppose the wildcat, or whatever it is, was up in the tree and didn't know what to do when Andy started to come up. The beast knew we were down here, or otherwise it would probably have jumped down and run off."