“The first time it was a dog,” muttered Jack, as if communing with himself; “and now, unless I’m might mistaken, that meant cat!”
“Cat!” echoed Steve, incredulously. “Why, it 66 was a whole lot louder noise than any cat I ever ran across could make! a snarl that sent a cold chill racing up and down my backbone. Cat? What sort of a cat would you call it, Jack?”
“A wild cat, if anything,” replied the other, neither of them stirring as yet. “Look around you and tell me if anybody could imagine a better place for such a beast to live in. And I think I’ve located it. We can find out quickly enough by making a move as if to go on.”
He suited the action to the words. Instantly there came the repetition of that vicious snarl. It seemed to contain all the concentrated essence of savage hatred, and sent another shiver over Steve.
“Now I can see the critter, Jack!” snapped Steve, extending his club to point toward a certain tree standing directly in their path. “Crouching right on that lower limb. Oh! how his yellow eyes glare at us! Excuse me from wanting to come to close quarters with such a demon.”
“For one thing, you’ve settled on the wrong gender, Steve,” remarked Jack in a fairly cool tone; “because if you look sharper you’ll see two other puffy balls close by the first one. Those are half-grown whelps, and the mother stands ready to defend them to the last ounce of her strength, and drop of blood. We’ve surprised Mrs. Cat at home.”
“Yes, you’re right there, Jack, those must be cubs, for I saw one move just then. But with such a combination against us what are we going 67 to do? Surely you won’t think of trying to scare the old cat away?”
“Twenty armed men couldn’t do that, so long as her kits were in danger,” Jack told him. “If we still mean to advance there’s only one way to do it. We can’t fly over, and consequently it’s up to us to go around, or else turn back and acknowledge ourselves baffled.”
“I hate to do that last the worst thing,” grumbled Steve, giving another whack at the ground with his long club, shaped somewhat like a baseball bat; “but whatever you say goes, Jack.”
“It looks a trifle easier traveling over on the left,” observed Jack, “so let’s make our try there.”