212 DENIZENS OF THE DESERT 



was off into the arrowweed in an instant. By 

 following her trails, I was led into a rocky gorge 

 near by where I found her den, and in it were 

 three kittens about one third grown. I must 

 confess that, when I first approached, it was 

 with much hesitancy, for a wild cat is not a 

 pleasant animal to meet in combat. And here 

 was a mother with young! To my surprise she 

 became frightened and abandoned the den 

 almost as soon as she saw me, and I was left 

 to see the kittens alone. They were pretty 

 little things, really much more like domestic 

 kittens than I had imagined. There was a 

 stockiness of build, a bigness of head, and 

 enormity of padded paws, however, that no 

 tame kitten ever possessed. Furthermore, there 

 was no long tail — only a stump; the jowl 

 whiskers, if such you may call the heavy long 

 hair- tufts beneath the jaw, were well devel- 

 oped, and the ears were tufted by fine pencils 

 of black hair. As I approached the kittens they 

 gave a coarse "mew," but very soon showed 

 their distrust by spitting at me. They were 

 going to take no chance with this new creature 

 who had looked down upon them in their home, 



