The panther had stopped twenty feet away, crouching to spring, yet hesitating as if afraid. It was rather dark in the passage and his eyes blazed like two coals of fire. Hal stood ready to spring back into the cave and pull the door to if he should spring.
“Come on in and shut the door,” pleaded Frank in trembling tones. Byron and Fred seconded the request, but Hal had good reason for doing otherwise.
If he shut himself and his companions in the cave, it would mean a long imprisonment. He would be afraid to open the door again lest he find the panther close to the entrance ready to spring in. Meanwhile Mr. Miles would return and would be unable to find them, and then the mischief would be to pay. Hal must remain outside and watch for the airship and scream for help when the aviator landed.
“No, I’m going to stay here as long as he don’t spring at me,” Hal replied. “If it’s too dark in there and you’re afraid, here’s some matches.”
He took several matches from his pocket and held them behind him. Byron stepped out gingerly and received them and hastened back into the cave. Meanwhile, Hal was measuring the distance between him and the puma and wondering if he couldn’t do something to make the big cat retreat.
“If I’d pick up one of these stones and fire it at him, I wonder what he’d do,” he mused. “Would he jump at me or would he jump back? Maybe I ought to just try to scare him and not hit him. If I hit him, it may make him mad.
“No, I guess I’ll throw one right at him. I couldn’t hit him if I tried. Nobody could hit a cat; they’re too quick.”
So he picked up a stone half as large as his fist and threw it with all his force right at the animal. The latter sprang nimbly aside and the stone bounded several yards farther on. Encouraged at the failure of the mountain lion to spring at him, Hal picked up another stone and hurled it, then another and another and another. The beast sprang aside and backward each time, snarling angrily, but hardly with an accent of courage. Hal kept up his attack with more and more vigor, and presently the animal turned and bounded out of the passage. Just as he disappeared, Hal’s three companions came rushing toward him in a manner so startling that the watcher outside chilled with a fear that the panther’s mate had been discovered inside.
They stopped at the entrance, thus reassuring Hal somewhat. But this reassurance was dispelled when he turned and saw their white faces and scared attitudes.
“What’s the matter?” he inquired, for the moment forgetting the panther.