“Heard your cat, sir?”
“No.”
“More have I. Scared of me, I suppose. Rec’lects first meeting.”
They went on again in silence, with the gloom deepening; but the forest was a little more open, and all at once Shaddy stopped short, and holding one hand behind him signed to Rob to come close up.
“Look!” he whispered: “just over my shoulder, lad. I’d say try your bow and arrow, only we’ve got plenty of food in camp, and had better leave it for next time.”
“What is it, Shaddy? I can’t see. Yes, I can. Why it’s a deer. Watching us too.”
The graceful little creature was evidently startled at the sight of human beings, and stood gazing ready to spring away at the slightest motion on their part. The next instant there was a sudden movement just before them, as a shadow seemed to dart out from their right; and as the deer made a frantic bound it was struck down, for a puma had alighted upon its back, and the two animals lay before them motionless, the puma’s teeth fast in the deer’s neck, and the former animal so flattened down that it looked as if it were one with the unfortunate creature it had made its prey, and whose death appeared to have been almost instantaneous.
“Why, it must be my puma!” cried Rob.
“That’s so, my lad, for sartain,” replied Shaddy. “Now, if we could get part, say the hind-quarter of that deer, for our share, it would be worth having. What do you say?”
Rob said nothing, and Shaddy approached; but a low, ominous growling arose, and the great cat’s tail writhed and twined about in the air.