THE THEFT 241 



sight of them. For one instant she stood 

 like a stone, petrified with terror. In the 

 next, she had vanished over the nearest 

 bushes with such a leap as she had never 

 before achieved. The female might have 

 sprung upon her neck almost without effort, 

 but she never even raised a paw against this 

 easy quarry ; it was a higher hunting that 

 now engrossed her. 



When at length the two running beasts 

 came to the edge of the open ground on the 

 slopes of Burnt Ridge, they hesitated. The 

 female, though the more deadly in the per- 

 sistence of her hate, was at the same time 

 the more sagacious. First of all, she wanted 

 to recover her cubs. No mere vengeance 

 could be so important to her as that. She 

 shrank back into deeper cover, and started 

 off to one side to skirt the dangerous open. 

 But noticing that her mate was not following 

 her, she stopped and looked back at him 

 inquiringly. 



The male, more impetuous and more bent 

 upon mere revenge, showed himself for a 

 moment beyond the fringe of the woods. 

 In that one moment, though it was impossible 

 that he should have detected the man in his 

 hiding across the open, he nevertheless 

 seemed to receive some impression from the 



