A WEAPON OF NATURE. 21 



The leopardess looked up in his face, two or three times, with her body seem- 

 ingly flattened along the log, and then darted her gaze away, as a child will do 

 when it unexpectedly glances at the sun. 



" I'll try it," thought the youth; "strange that I didn't think of it before!" 



Bob now stood stationary on the log, but crouched in the attitude of a leaper 

 preparing for a standing jump. He stooped so low and his head was thrust so far 

 forward, that, had you seen him, you would have felt sure (though wondering much 

 thereat) that he was about to spring upon the head of the leopardess. 



But I need not tell you that the wise youth never dreamed of throwing away his 

 life in any such fashion as that. 



What, then, was he seeking to do ? 



Assuming the fiercest expression at his command, he stared straight into the 

 eyes of the beast. The latter met his gaze for an instant, as though she expected 

 to look him out of countenance, but she was unequal to the test. 



She kept up her snarling, while her extended claws showed a peculiar nervous 

 twitching, the nails causing the crumbling bark to fall fast into the water, while she 

 cast furtive glances at the rigid youth who seemed determined to look her through 

 and through. 



Again and again she looked at him, only to dart her eyes aside as if in actual 

 fear, but she not only refused to retreat, but continued slowly advancing upon hei 

 enemy. 



There could be no question that the female was clear grit. 



Fully comprehending the situation, Bob Marshall now called into play his las! 

 resource. 



With his head thrust forward, his rifle grasped in his left hand and his Colt in 

 his right, he raised one foot and set it down several inches further along the log, his 

 purpose being to give the step as much significance as possible. 



It looked, for all the world, as if he had resolved to become the aggressor and 

 assail the leopardess, instead of waiting for her to attack him. 



Had he removed his glance but for a moment, while taking this bold step, the 

 brute would have bounded forward and fastened teeth and claws in him, for beyond 

 a doubt she was fully as courageous as her mate. 



Such evidently was her intention, when, with a sharper growl than before, she 

 partly rose to her feet and glanced at that terrible human countenance now so close 

 to her own. 



The battery of those burning eyes was more than she could stand, and turning 

 nimbly on the log, she made a tremendous bound, which carried her back to the 

 side from which she started. 



Instead of running away, however, she crouched in the thin, tall grass near the 

 trunk, with the evident intention of awaiting the advance of the young hunter, when 

 she would try it again. 



You will remember that night was closing in, darkness having actually begun, 

 and, while there is no animal known that. can be so easily subdued by the human 



