“OH, BERT!” CRIED FREDDIE, “WE’RE LOST!”
Forgetting his plan of using snowball bullets, Bert dropped his little bundle of lunch, part of which he had eaten, and began to climb the nearest tree.
He learned then, if he did not know it before, that a wildcat, which was the animal he had surprised in its den, is a good tree-climber; as good as your house cat, or even better.
When half way up the tree, Bert looked down and saw the yellow wildcat coming after him. Probably the animal thought that Bert had no right near its den.
“This is bad!” thought Bert, as he climbed higher and higher. Then, as he saw the beast still coming, he realized that he must, somehow, get away. He saw the big rock not far from the tree. The rock had a small flat top, covered with snow, but the sides were smooth and almost straight up and down, and had no snow on them.
“If I could get there the wildcat couldn’t get me,” thought Bert. “And if it tries to jump after me I can snowball it. I’m going to get on the rock!”
It was the best plan he could think of, and a moment later, having got in good position, he gave a jump, left the tree, and landed in the soft snow on top of the big rock.
With a snarl and a growl the wildcat stopped climbing up as it saw what the boy had done. Then it began climbing down the tree while Bert, from his place of safety, watched. He wondered what the bobcat would do.
The animal walked over to where Bert had dropped his package of lunch and began tearing at the paper.