124 WILD SPORTS IN THE SOUTH. 



would have been hurt, had not Mike fired and killed the wounded 

 animal as the hounds came crowding up. 



 Cat ! cat ! " " Yow ! yow ! " " Hit urn a dip ! " " Ough I 

 ough ! " were the sounds that came on the right, as a big cat broke 

 away down the beach. The Doctor was just landing from his 

 boat, and had a fair chance, as the animal was close by. The shot 

 wounded the furious beast, so that it became completely confused, 

 and, being hard pressed by the dogs, it took refuge in the only 

 trunk it could see, which happened to be the high curve of the 

 Doctor's cypress canoe, just landing end-on to the beach. In rushed 

 the dogs after the animal, crowding the boat, knocking about the 

 paddles, and forcing the Doctor up on the thwarts. The fierce 

 animal fought with desperation against the crowd of pursuers, 

 thrashing around the Doctor's legs, and tilting the boat from one 

 side to the other, till it finally upset, and dogs, and oars, cat, and 

 hunter, were all thrown into the water together. It only needed a 

 moment of open field, and the dogs, smarting with their scratches, 

 tore the cat almost in pieces, and left the cat-skin, as one of the 

 boys remarked who had run down to help the Doctor, • 'bout 

 chawed up." 



Jackson and I did not like to leave our places to help in the 

 fray, though we assisted all we could by laughing, and Miss 

 Jackson called out, after vainly trying to peer over the land, to 

 know what the matter was. 



I explained how the Doctor had presided over the fight. 



" The Colossus of Rhodes ! " she answered back. 



" I won't stand for a Colossus again," he replied, shoving off 

 his boat, and resuming his paddle ; " that miserable cat has 

 scratched my legs bare ! " 



As our line advanced we could see the end of the island that 

 ran out in a long narrow bar. Hundreds of gulls and black-headed 

 terns, with snow-white breasts, disturbed from the sands, were 

 screaming over us, and curlews and plover wheeled in circles, 

 uttering their plaintive cries. Crowds of merganser ducks that 

 were sitting on the shingle, basking in the sun, rushed out to sea, 

 piling up the water in front of them, and small birds took flight 

 to the neighbouring islands, or flew high in the air to regain their 



