MAROONED 129 



extremely formidable. However, she was 

 no coward, and presently, though not with- 

 out reasonable caution, she went about her 

 hunting. Suddenly the owl caught a partial 

 glimpse of her in the grass, probably of her 

 ears or head. He swooped, and at the same 

 instant she sprang upwards to meet the 

 assault, spitting and growling harshly, and 

 striking with unsheathed claws. With a 

 frantic flapping of his great wings, the owl 

 checked himself and drew back into the air, 

 just escaping the clutch of those indignant 

 claws. But after that the marsh-owls were 

 careful to give her a wide berth. They realized 

 that the black-striped animal, with the quick 

 spring and the clutching claws, was not to 

 be interfered with. They perceived that she 

 was some relation of that dangerous prowler, 

 the lynx. But if they were disturbed by the 

 presence on the island of so dangerous a rival 

 as the cat, they were amply compensated by 

 the coming of the rats, who afforded them fine 

 hunting of a kind which they had never 

 before experienced. In spite of all this hunt- 

 ing, however, the furry life of the marsh-grass 

 was so teeming, so inexhaustible, that the 

 depredations of cat, rats, and owls were power- 

 less to make more than a passing impression 

 upon it. So the hunting and the merry-mak- 



