52 BOBBY LYNX OF BOOTD-TOP 
afraid! How could a little cat know 
what might be under those big, dark 
boughs or just waiting around them ready 
to pounce? But pass it he must, so,—he 
cautiously slid toward it, hoping to pass it 
safely and get back once more to the dear 
Hollow Tree House. Step by step he 
went as carefully as a little cat could, and 
then,—just as he was almost by it,—there 
was a sudden terrifying rush of wings, a 
sharp sting in his forehead as powerful 
claws tried vainly to clutch him and an 
awful voice seemed to shout right in his 
ears,—“ To-whoo-oo! ” 
It was a huge owl that had been sud¬ 
denly frightened out of her hiding-place 
in the big pine. But poor Bobby did not 
know what it was and, with a loud cry of 
fear, he dashed for safety in under the 
big branches and then climbed up the tree 
as fast as he could. And there he clung, 
in a crotch of the tree, too frightened to 
