Quick as thought he brought his rifle up and fired point blank directly between the blazing eyeballs.
The result was terrific.
Frank had presence of mind enough to sink down upon his face just as a tremendous tawny body rose out of the shrubbery and sprang directly over him.
It was as he saw at that moment a monstrous puma or panther, called by the natives lion.
Indeed, the genuine lion is not a more formidable beast to encounter than the puma of Central America.
It was a narrow escape that Frank had had.
The puma had sprung clear over him and tumbled headlong into a heap of brush, where he began to flounder and make the air hideous with his cries.
Frank was not sure whether he had given the beast a mortal wound or not.
Nor did he try to find out or follow up the contest.
He knew well enough what a hand to hand encounter with one of these monsters meant.