60 BOBBY LYNX OF BOUND-TOP 
the valley, Bobby saw her suddenly 
stiffen and begin to draw back each foot 
as slowly and cautiously as she knew how. 
Right on a rock, across a little ravine, was 
the most dreaded enemy of all the wild 
things,—a man! As the wind shifted, 
Bobby and Tommy both caught this new 
smell and the bristles on their necks rose 
in terror,—here was something new and 
fearful and they stood stiff and rigid as 
they saw their mother trying to crawl 
back from the big rock unseen. Quick as 
she had been, the hunter was even quicker 
and, just as she had almost reached the 
shelter of the overhanging vines, came a 
roar that seemed the worst,—the very 
worst noise that Bobby and Tommy had 
ever heard in all their lives! It was a 
gun and the sound echoed and reechoed 
among the rocks until it seemed to the 
poor little cats that the noise would never 
cease! And, then,—oh,—what had hap- 
