The owner of the cave had returned!
CHAPTER VII
A SIEGE OF TERROR
For a few moments Bomba’s heart seemed to cease beating.
Down he went again behind his barrier, while he tried to collect his thoughts in the presence of this new peril.
The thought that this might be the den of a wild beast had occurred to him when he first saw the mouth of the cave, but it had been crowded out by his desperate need of escaping from his human enemies.
Now he realized that he was trapped. There was not one chance in a hundred that the beast would stay outside for long. Sooner or later it would enter the cave to rest in readiness for its nocturnal hunting. And when it did come in, discovery would be certain.
In Bomba’s crouching position the animal could not see him. But it would smell him and follow the scent to the crevice in the rock.
To be sure, it could not get at him. Its huge body could not squeeze through the narrow opening. But when it once became convinced of this it would settle down to a long siege that would doom its captive to certain starvation.
Once more Bomba ventured a peep at the shadow. It had changed its shape. At first the beast had been standing. Now the shadow showed that it was stretched out on the ground, but with its head uplifted, watching perhaps for the possible return of the Indians that its coming had frightened off.
That shadow had a dreadful fascination for Bomba. He watched it as though under a spell, waiting for the moment when it would change in shape, when the great tawny beast would rise, shake itself, yawn, and at last enter the cave.