“I’m not sure, as I say, that I saw anything,” said Bobby, “but it just seemed to me as though I saw a flash of light brown against a tree trunk, and then it disappeared so quickly that I thought I might be mistaken.”
“Light brown?” whispered Lee, with a frightened look in his eyes. “Bobby, that’s the color of a cougar, and you remember that cry we heard last night—”
His voice trailed off into silence, and the boys peered fearfully through the matted tangle of vines and underbrush. They could see nothing to confirm their fears, but suddenly a twig snapped not far from this, and they thought they could hear a stealthy rustling.
“What would we better do, Bobby?” asked Fred, anxiously. “If we only had a gun with us, we could soon take care of that fellow if he comes after us, but as it is—”
He had no need to finish the sentence, for his companions knew what he meant. Unarmed, with not even a knife among them, except, of course, their pocket knives, they would be no match for the savage beast that was stalking them. In all probability, as Lee told them, the panther would wait until toward dark, and then leap on them at the first opportunity.
“If that’s so,” said Bobby, who had been doing some quick thinking, “it seems to me as though we’d best pick out the place to fight it out instead of leaving it to Mr. Cougar.”
“Yes, but one place looks about as bad as another to me around here,” said Lee. “What’s your idea, Bobby?”
“I think we’d better get up a tree,” said Bobby, “then if he comes up after us, as he’ll probably do if we keep him waiting long enough, we’ll have a chance of beating him off with clubs. On the ground here there’s hardly room enough to move, and he’d have us at his mercy.”
Bobby had hardly finished speaking when they heard another stick snap, closer this time than before, and although still they could see nothing, they had little need of their eyes to tell them that the peril was close and imminent.
“There’s a big tree over there,” said Bobby, pointing to a towering giant that stood somewhat apart from the rest. “We’ll make for that, but take it easy, so it won’t look as though we were in a hurry.”