At first the animal took no notice, or was unconscious of the approach of the canoe, but by the time the latter had covered half the distance separating them, it suddenly awoke to a sense of danger, and put forth a spurt that greatly increased its rate of progress.
"Hit her up, Jack! hit her up!" cried Ray, multiplying his strokes. "The beggar's trying to get away from us."
"No fear of that," panted Jack, who was straining every nerve and steering a faultless course. "We're too fast for it any day."
As they gained upon their quarry it soon became clear that it was nothing of the deer kind, but some sort of a wild-cat, the fur being very thick, and of a brownish-gray color. The ears were long and pointed, and had a curious little plume of coarse hairs at the top. Neither of the boys had ever seen an animal like this one before.
Had not their blood been warmed by the exertions of the chase, it is probable that when the character of the animal was more fully disclosed they would have deemed discretion the better part of valor, and allowed it to go on its way unchallenged.
But they were both greatly excited, and the presence of each other acted as a stimulant to their courage, so that they were bound to see the end of the matter.
"Give him a shot with your air-gun, Ray," shouted Jack when the canoe was within ten yards of the creature.
Ray at once laid down his paddle and took up the gun, which happened to be ready for action. Aiming as carefully as he could, seeing that every pulse was throbbing and nerve tingling with excitement, Ray pulled the trigger, and the loud snap of the gun was instantly followed by a startling yell of pain from the animal, which commenced to thrash around in the water furiously.
By a lucky chance, rather than by any good marksmanship, Ray's buckshot had taken effect in the right eye, completely destroying that optic, and inflicting intolerable pain.