"'Tis good for you," said the kind-hearted woman once more. The schoolmaster, however, still writhed as if in great agony and looked at the woman with an expression that might have quieted the tongue of a less courageous woman than Mrs. Horan.
"Why do you cling to the desk in that manner?" demanded the woman.
The agony in the expression of the schoolmaster's face seemed to be deepened by the question, but he made no response.
"What's the matter, Master Hargrave?" demanded the woman once more. "'Tis Peleg and I who are here to help you."
Suddenly from the lips of the tormented man came the cry, "I have caught a cat!" Perspiration was streaming from his face, and his manner, expressive of fright, agony, and fatigue combined, made his words scarcely recognizable.
Peleg glanced behind him and saw that many more of the neighbours had arrived and were curiously standing within the room at a safe distance from the desk, watching the actions of the man, who still writhed and twisted as he clung to the desk in front of him.
The young hunter darted around the corner of the rude desk, to discover the cause of all the trouble. He first saw that a part of the clothing of the unfortunate man had been torn from his body, which was pressed against the edge of the desk. Closer inspection showed that the teeth of a huge "cat," or lynx, were fastened in the side of the schoolmaster. Bringing his gun to his shoulder the scout was about to fire, when the fear of Master Hargrave became stronger even than his sufferings.
"Don't shoot! Don't shoot! You will hit me! Oh-h-h-h!" he screamed, still striving to hold his adversary against the edge of the desk.
Disregarding the appeal, Peleg fired, and after a few confused struggles, the huge cat was lifeless.
Still the schoolmaster held the body in its place, however, and when his sympathetic friends drew him back they were horrified to discover that the jaws of the dead lynx were locked about one of his ribs. Several minutes elapsed before the man was freed from this death grip.