“That’s the worst of it: tigers get loose too sometimes, don’t they? and panthers more often, because there are more of them.”
“Yes, one is as dangerous as the other. Panthers are worse than lions.”
“More creepy.”
“Cattish. They slink on you; they don’t roar first.”
“Then perhaps it’s a panther.”
“Perhaps. This is a very likely place, if anything has got loose; there’s the jungle on the mainland, and all the other woods, and the Chase up by Jack’s.”
“Yes—plenty of cover: almost like forest.”
Besides the great wood in which they had wandered there were several others in the neighbourhood, and a Chase on the hills by Jack’s, so that in case of a beast escaping from a caravan it would find extensive cover to hide in.
“Only think,” said Bevis, “when we bathed!”
“Ah!” Mark shuddered. While they bathed naked and unarmed, had it darted from the reeds they would have fallen instant victims, without the possibility of a struggle even.