“I’ve never had such enjoyment in years,” he said happily, and then added: “Lucky that our thirst was no worse than it was, or it would have been necessary to restrain ourselves from drinking too much at once.”
When the men had finished drinking, they glanced about the cave. Their flashlights fell on the body of the tiger cat, and they looked up in surprise.
“What’s this?” inquired Mr. Lewis, pointing to the bullet-riddled carcass.
Bob and Joe smiled.
“That old boy tried to make us remain for dinner, but we fooled him,” explained Bob. “We had to empty our revolvers to stop him, though.”
There was a clamor of excited questions, and the youths were forced to relate every detail of the encounter. When they had finished, the naturalists bent over to examine the striped skin.
“Too bad, but I’m afraid you’ve put too many bullets in him for us to use the skin,” said Mr. Holton regretfully. “And a large specimen, too. But then,” he went on, “we won’t think of that when your lives hung in the balance.”
The explorers spent a few minutes sitting in the cool white sand. Then they went back outside to get the water containers.
They had had an uneasy feeling that perhaps the camels had been molested during their stay in the cavern, and gave a sigh of relief upon seeing them sitting peacefully near the tent.