126 IN THE AMERICAN DESERT 



For some time the fight raged — silently on the part of 

 the cougar, noisily on that of the peccaries, for even 

 the little ones ran round and tried to think they were 

 lending a helping hand ; but the peccary had no chance 

 from the beginning, and before long was lying dead on 

 her side, with the cougar lapping her blood. 



But strange noises were now heard coming nearer 

 and nearer through the brushwood. The cougar rose 

 quickly to his feet, and tossing the dead peccary over his 

 shoulder, he made off in the opposite direction to that 

 from which the sounds came. 



It was too late ; for at the same moment a herd of 

 twenty or thirty peccaries, who had been summoned by 

 the cries of the dying one, rushed across the open, and cut 

 off the retreat of the cougar. In an instant he was 

 surrounded, and flinging down the body of the peccary, 

 he sprang upon the nearest living one, felling it with a blow 

 from one of his paws ; at the same moment he himself 

 was seized from behind and pulled down. 



It did not seem possible that one animal, however 

 fierce, could keep so many foes at bay ; but two or three 

 times he shook them off and sprang into the air, only to 

 be caught and dragged back by some watchful peccary. At 

 last, he gathered up all his strength, and with a desperate 

 leap cleared the circle, and made straight for the tree 

 where the two men were sitting, and before they could 

 even cock their rifles, he was crouching on a branch above 

 them, and glaring at them with his fierce eyes. 



If ever anybody might be said to be ' between the devil 

 and the deep sea,' it was Eolfe and Frank at this moment; 

 for if the cougar was above them, below were the pec- 

 caries puffing and snorting, and tearing at the bark of 

 the tree. 



However, in a few seconds Eolfe collected his senses, 

 and came to the conclusion that the enemy above was 

 more to be dreaded than the enemy below. For peccaries 

 cannot climb trees, but cougars can and do quite easily ! 



