82 Trails to Woods and Waters 



his eyes were fastened intently upon the in- 

 truder. 



The great cat looked doubtfully this way 

 and that but nothing seemed stirring in this 

 quarter. She sat down on her stub of a tail 

 to consider which thicket to hunt next. The 

 heaviness of her night's sleep had not been en- 

 tirely thrown off for she had just come from 

 her lair, so she opened her great mouth, show- 

 ing her ferocious visage at its fiercest, and 

 yawned. 



To the little watcher peeping through his 

 window in the treetop, this was the last straw. 

 It filled him with uncontrollable terror. 

 With a pitiful bell of fear, he bounded from 

 the treetop and ran wildly down the mountain 

 side, fear lending wings to his hoofs. 



Probably a more astonished wildcat never 

 stood on the mountain side than the old hunt- 

 ress. But her flash of astonishment was in- 

 stantly swept away by her primitive instinct 

 of the hunt. 



The fleeing fawn had not taken three 

 jumps when she was after him, springing 



