“‘I was getting out the hardtack, when I saw a whopping big trout jump, just by the mouth of the brook. It was bigger than any I had caught so far, and I could not bear to lose the chance of taking him while he was feeding.
“‘I set down my plate, telling Dan to watch it, seized my rod, tied on a cast of white and gray millers, and struck hurriedly through the bushes toward the other side of the cove, where I thought I could get a fair cast.
“‘You know what sort of a place that shore is,—all banks and bowlders, and thickets and little gullies; and some of those gullies are hidden by fallen trees, or grown over with weeds and vines. You have to keep your eyes open, or you are liable to tumble into these pitfalls. I was in a hurry, and plunged right ahead. I wanted to catch that trout and get back to my supper.
“‘At last, about sixty or seventy yards from the camp, I dodged round a thick fir-bush, and saw right in front of me something that brought me up mighty short, I can tell you.
“‘Not ten feet away, crouched along the top of a white bowlder, lay a huge Indian devil just ready to spring.
“‘I felt queer right down to my boots, but kept my eyes fixed on those of the brute, which gleamed like two emeralds in the moonlight. My right hand reached for my belt, and I stealthily drew my old sheath-knife. At the same time I whistled sharply for Dan.
“‘The brute was on the very point of springing when I whistled; but the shrill sound startled him, and deterred him for a moment. He glanced uneasily from side to side, half rising. Then he drew himself together again for his spring.
“‘Before he could launch himself forth, I hurled the butt of my fishing-rod full in his face, and sprang aside. I saw the long body flash toward me, and at the same instant I crashed through a tangle of underbrush, and sank into one of those gullies.
“‘Instinctively I threw out my left arm to save myself. My grasp caught a tree-root on the edge of the hole. The next instant I felt the panther’s teeth sink into my arm. I didn’t know how deep that hole was, but I wanted to be at the bottom of it right away.
“‘At the risk of stabbing myself, I slashed desperately above my head with my free right hand. It was not a breath too soon; for at that very instant the brute had reached down with the amiable intention of clawing my head. The knife went through his paw, which he snatched back, snarling fiercely. But he kept his grip on my arm.