your hand, and if you have met Pekompt 

 many times before, you are quite as uncer- 

 tain what he will do this time. Most wild 

 creatures, however fierce, prefer to mind their 

 own business and will respect the same senti- 

 ment in you. But when you stumble upon 

 a wildcat you are never sure of his next 

 move. That is because he is a slinking, 

 treacherous creature, like all cats, and never 

 quite knows how best to meet you. He sus- 

 pects you unreasonably because he knows 

 you suspect him with reason. Generally he 

 slinks away, or leaps suddenly for cover, 

 according to the method of your approach. 

 But though smaller he is naturally more sav- 

 age than either the Canada lynx or the pan- 

 ther, and sometimes he crouches and snarls 

 in your face, or even jumps for your chest at 

 the first movement. 



Once, to my knowledge, he fell like a fury 

 upon the shoulders of a man who was hurry- 

 ing homeward through the twilight, and who 

 happened to stop unawares under the tree 

 where Pekompf was watching the runways. 

 The man had no idea that a wildcat was near, 



