130 ON THE EDGE OF THE WILDERNESS 
woods above the high pasture she realized that the 
dog would be up to her. There was no available 
tree—only a big, cleft boulder, overhung with a 
wild grape-vine. It was a case of having to fight, 
and she dove under the grape-vine, into the cleft 
of the rock, where she turned at bay and waited 
her pursuer. 
The dog came crashing and baying in under 
the vine, and instantly Lucy was on his back. 
‘There was hardly room in that restricted cleft for 
him to turn around, though Lucy could double 
herself in it without trouble. She had him ai 
this initial disadvantage, and she had, beside, the 
great advantage of her own superior speed of 
attack in combat. Her game was to keep on top 
of him, clawing at his eyes and throat, and biting 
at his head, while he tried frantically to get her 
down, to throw her for a bite at her throat. He 
couldn’t do it, and it was already a badly used up 
dog that was fighting for his life now in behind 
the grape-vine when Solon, guided by the yowls 
and spits and bays of the combat, came plunging 
up the pasture through the snow, calling frantic- 
ally to the dog to come out. 
