Foam—A Razor-Backed Hog 
sprang. In a moment he had the little pig by the 
neck. Its scream of pain sent a thrill through all 
the band. The mother wheeled and charged. But 
the big cat was wise. He had made a plan. In 
one great scrambling bound he was high and safe 
on the pine stump, with the little pig squealing 
beneath his paws where he held it tight and re- 
morselessly as he gazed down in cruel scorn on the 
tormented mother vainly ramping at the stump. 
At her highest stretch she could barely touch its 
top edge. Beyond that was past her reach, and 
the big cat on the stump struck many a cruel blow 
with his armed paw on the frantic mother’s face. 
There seemed no way, no hope for Runtie. But 
there was, and it came not from the head of the 
procession, as the cat had feared, but from the tail. 
The Turkey-buzzard, lower yet, not only saw and 
heard, but even got some of the sense of shock the 
great cat got when the bush tops jerked and swayed 
and parted, and out below there rushed a huge 
Wild Boar. 
If Cruel-face had been at all cowed by the raging 
mother, he would have been terror stricken now, 
and when that mighty beast rose up and reared 
against the stump, his jaws with their sabres could 
sweep halfway over the top, and the gray-coated 
villain had to move quickly to the other side, and 
60 
