“Now I’ve got something to go by,” he told himself as he knelt down and drank for a long time. It was the first water he had found and his throat was nearly parched. He had hoped that he would find some berries of some kind, but had not, and he was beginning to feel weak from lack of food.
The cold water refreshed him somewhat, and after a short rest he started to follow the brook. It was a very crooked stream and the underbrush and bushes were thick along its banks, so that his progress was slow. But he did not dare to try any short cuts, as he feared he might lose it. It had been cloudy all day and darkness came on early.
“Guess I won’t be able to reach the lake to-day,” he panted, as he stumbled and fell headlong over a stick. “Guess one place is as good as another to camp and I’m going to stop right here. My but I’d give a lot for something to eat,” he muttered, as he picked himself up.
Only a few feet to his right was a thick clump of cedars, and he was moving toward it, thinking it would be a good place for a bed, when an ear-splitting yell made him jump back with a suddenness, which caused him to strike his heel on a stick and send him sprawling on his back. In falling his head struck a rock and for a moment he lay half stunned. Another yell from the clump of cedars brought him to his senses and he slowly got to his knees.
“I’ll bet there’s no fake about that wild cat,” he thought, rubbing the back of his head.
Bob had told him that a wild cat will seldom attack a man unless it is cornered, but if there should be two of them together they will sometimes take the initiative. All this passed through his mind as he was getting to his feet. He stood for a moment, his head still reeling from the contact with the stone. Another fierce shriek sent him rushing away toward the brook. He fancied that the last yell differed somewhat from the others, indicating that there were two cats in that clump of cedars.
“All right kitty-cat. You got there first, and I have no intention of turning you out of your bed,” he said as he reached the brook and crossed over to the other side. Somehow he felt safer with the brook between him and the cat.
In spite of the rapidly increasing darkness, he stumbled along down the stream, determined to put as much distance as possible between himself and the wild cat. Many times he fell headlong as his foot tripped on a root or hit against a stone. He stopped and listened every few minutes to determine whether or not the cat was following him.
“I don’t suppose I could hear it if it was,” he thought.
In a short time it grew so dark that he was obliged to stop whether or no. He thought that he had come at least a half mile from the clump of cedars. He had not heard the yell again and hoped that the cat had not followed him.