THE THEFT 243 



of the fugitive, for even now she heard the 

 faint thud- thud of his loping feet. She hid 

 herself far up a tree, some thirty feet from 

 the trail, and waited. 



As the man came up, she eyed him with 

 a mingling of mad hatred and anxious ques- 

 tion. She saw the bundle on his back writhe 

 violently, and she caught a little growling 

 complaint which came from it. That settled 

 her policy. Had she thought that the cubs 

 were dead, she might have dropped upon the 

 man from her post of vantage. But the 

 cubs were alive. For their sakes she would 

 take no risks with the man. 



When he had passed on, she followed at a 

 safe distance. The strange procession crossed 

 the ridge. It neared the clearing and the 

 cabin. At this point the panther heard, some 

 little way back from the trail, the tonk- 

 tonk of a cow-bell. There was no need of 

 following the man so very closely for the 

 moment. She swerved aside, ran straight, 

 like a cat going for milk, through the thickets, 

 and, with a burst of intolerable fury, sprang 

 upon the cow's neck. There was not even 

 a struggle, for the animal's neck was broken 

 before it had time to know what was happen- 

 ing. The desperate mother tore her victim, 

 but ate none of it. Then she hurried on 



