“You are right, Bob,” answered the other, with a ring of disgust in his voice; “I do believe the cowards are slinking off over there, for I saw the brush moving. I wish we could have had a shot at them.”
“Well, for one, I’m glad they’ve taken a notion to let us alone,” Bob remarked. “I was afraid that they would spring at any second, and we might have missed, or only wounded, one or both of the panthers. It was exciting while it lasted, Sandy.”
“Yes, I can say it was,” replied the other, with a shrug of his shoulders. “Just think of me held up here like this, and with the teeth of that old trap biting in deeper every time I pulled, or tried to turn around. Please get me loose, Bob; my ankle will be pretty sore after this, I’m afraid.”
“So you couldn’t turn around to unfasten it yourself,” remarked the other, as he hastened to turn the trap over, so that he might stand on the double spring, and thus throw back the two jaws. “There, does that fix it, Sandy? Looks like those teeth had chewed pretty well into your buckskin legging, too. I hope you won’t be crippled too badly to limp back to the boat.”
Sandy scrambled to his feet, and started to try his left leg. He certainly did limp considerably, but only made a wry face as he said:
“I’ll have to stand it, Bob. And, then, it might have been so much worse. Think how those sharp teeth must have cut into my leg but for the support of that stout deerskin legging. And even they would have been nothing like the teeth of a panther. I honestly believe the savage beasts meant to get me. And, after this, I’m just going to add as many panther skins to our bag as I can, to pay up for the scare they gave me.”
“Well,” Bob replied, “I think we’ll give up all idea of keeping along our line of traps to-day. Not to speak of your lame ankle, it seems to get darker all the while; and, with the river before us, we’d be foolish to stay over here any longer than we can help. You remember what mother told us, Sandy?”
“Oh! I wouldn’t bother my head about any trouble we might have in making the other shore all right,” declared the confident younger boy; “but, then, with this pain in my leg, I don’t see how I could manage to get over much ground. However, if you care to go on alone, I can get back to the boat, and wait there for you to come.”
Bob shook his head resolutely.