“I never knew what it was to be really hungry,” he thought as he drank once more from the brook.
Climbing up the steep bank, which at this point was about eight feet high, he groped his way about until he felt an open space at the foot of a large tree. The ground was hard, but he did not mind it, as he stretched himself out at full length.
Fortunately the night was warm and he did not suffer from the cold. His head ached slightly from the blow he had received, but he was asleep almost at once.
It was still dark when he awoke, and for some minutes he lay trying to make out where he was. Then as memory returned he raised himself on one elbow and looked about him. It was very dark and he could hardly see his hand before his face. He was about to sink back again when a slight rustle to his right caught his ear. He turned his head and the next moment his blood seemed to freeze in his veins. There, not ten feet from where he lay, he saw two balls of greenish fire. They were about four feet from the ground and his horror increased as he saw the next moment two more similar balls a few feet to the left of the first pair.
“There are two of them and they have followed me,” he thought.
It would be hard to find a more ferocious animal for its size than the wild cat of northern Maine. Growing often to a weight of forty pounds, their long claws are like needles and pitted against an unarmed man the latter is almost helpless against their furious clawing and biting.
As he lay there too unnerved to think, suddenly one of the cats gave a blood-curdling yell, and before it had died out the other joined in. Galvanized into action he started to get to his feet, and as he did so his hands touched a rock about the size of his fist. Hardly realizing what he was doing he picked it up and, taking hasty aim, threw it with all his might at the nearer pair of eyes. He did not wait to see what the effect of his throw might be, but turned and ran toward the brook. Another, and if possible, a more terrifying shriek followed him as he fled. He did not realize how near he was to the bank, and before he could stop himself he was rolling over and over, landing somewhat bruised, but otherwise unhurt in about two feet of water. He scrambled to his feet and, shaking the water from his eyes, for his head had gone completely under, started to wade to the opposite bank. The stream at this point was about twelve feet wide, with a rocky bottom.
He had gotten about half way across when he felt with his outstretched hands a large rock just in front of him. Quickly he clambered up onto it.
“Reckon I’d better anchor here awhile till I get the lay of the situation,” he thought. “I don’t believe those cats will swim for the sake of sampling me.”
Another shriek interrupted his thoughts, and looking toward the shore he could again see the balls of fire.