Carefully letting himself down until he was once more in the first position, he worked his way, with every muscle strained to its utmost tension, hand over hand toward the roots, impeded by twigs and branches until the task seemed well-nigh impossible.
Each inch gained in this direction caused the tree to resume more nearly its original position, until when he was a little more than half way toward the base the trunk stood upright, and by dropping down he succeeded in reaching the narrow ledge, from which to gain the top of the cliff was a reasonably easy task.
When Philip was once more in a place of safety it became necessary to rest his weary limbs before going in search of the game that had so nearly cost him his life. Lying prone upon the earth for fifteen minutes was sufficient to give him the required strength, and then he began to search for a practicable path to the foot of the precipice.
A detour of a quarter of a mile was sufficient to take him from the edge of the cliff to the rocky side of the hill, down which it was possible to make his way without any great difficulty.
Despite the pangs of hunger his first care was the revolver, and he followed up the narrow ravine or gully, which was thickly overgrown with shrubs, until he stood directly beneath the tree which had saved him from a terrible fall. Here he searched the ground in vain, and was about to give up the task to find the trail of the deer when glancing, by chance, along the side of the cliff, he saw the weapon lodged in the branches of a stout sapling, while not more than thirty feet distant was an immense panther standing over the mangled carcass of the game.
Surely he was between the horns of a dilemma now. Both his revolver and the postponed dinner were so near the ferocious animal that it would be as dangerous to make any attempt at getting one as the other, and during several moments he stood undecided, knowing that the first step taken in retreat would bring the beast upon him.
A youth less versed in the habits of wild animals than Philip Garland might unwittingly have brought on an encounter to which there could be but one end. He, however, remained motionless, save as he worked his way, inch by inch, toward a thicket of shrubs without lifting his feet from the ground.
Even this stealthy retreat was noted by the animal, who began to twitch its tail as if preparing for a leap, and the shipwrecked youth knew he could no longer hold the enemy by his gaze nor gain the desired shelter. There was little opportunity for further preparation. The panther was already crouching for the spring.
Mentally bracing himself for that which seemed inevitable, he awaited the supreme moment with but one faint hope in his mind—that it might be possible to jump aside while the animal was in the air.