CHAPTER XIV

THE CROUCHING WILDCAT

Startled by the tone of Bob’s voice, the boys turned quickly, and Jimmy, disregarding his admonition not to move, screwed around till he could follow Bob’s gaze. Then an answering look of horror crept into his eyes.

There, directly above him, crouching low on an overhanging branch of the tree, was an animal that looked like nothing so much as an overgrown house cat. But instinctively the boys knew that those ferocious yellow eyes and small stubby ears flattened close to a sleek furry head belonged to no tame animal. It was a bobcat, one of the most vicious of the wild animals.

How long the boys sat there, staring fascinated into the branches of that tree, they were never afterward able to say. But even while they sat there motionless their minds were working furiously.

They were unarmed. If the animal attacked them they would be helpless. Instinctively they knew that as long as they remained absolutely quiet they had a chance of safety. The wildcat, puzzled by their stillness, would hesitate to spring. But if they moved——

Then suddenly Bob, as though released from the spell that held him, reached over ever so gently and his fingers closed on a stout stick that lay close to him. At the same moment his other hand grasped a heavy stone.

The other boys, guessing what he was about to do, followed his example, moving with the utmost caution. But, carefully as they moved, the slight action annoyed the crouching wildcat. His teeth showed in a wicked snarl and he crept nearer the end of the branch.

Then Bob, staking everything on sudden action, jumped to his feet, throwing the rock he held with all his force toward the huge cat and brandishing his stick wildly above his head.

The other boys followed suit, yelling like wild Indians and advancing fiercely upon their foe. It was a wild thing to do and there was only one chance in a hundred that the ruse would work. If the cat, infuriated by the attack, sprang upon them——

But no! Again that fierce growl, the flattened ears, muscles tensed for a spring——

But as the boys, shouting and waving their improvised weapons wildly, advanced bewilderment crept into the glaring yellow eyes of their antagonist. He crouched lower, he snarled angrily, he seemed about to leap.

Then, very slowly, the big animal began to retreat, inch by inch, along the branch, his body almost touching the bark, his fur bristling angrily.

Elated at the prospect of triumph the boys sprang forward with yells that started echoes sounding and resounding through the forest.

With a sudden motion the wildcat bounded backward, landed on his feet in the underbrush and scurried away through the trees. The boys waited, weapons still raised, half expecting a return, but as the moments passed and the woodland was still save for the excited chattering of birds in the branches over their heads, they began to realize that what they had hoped for was true, the enemy had been finally and completely routed.

They turned and stared at each other with eyes in which laughter could not completely hide the shock of their experience.

“Well, what do you know about that?” asked Bob, regarding the stick which he still grasped. “Scared him off with a bit of stick. I bet if I’d tried to hit him the stick would have broken in two on his sleek back. Say, fellows, can you beat it?”

Then he began to laugh and the others joined him. They laughed till tears rolled down their cheeks, and when at last they sobered down they felt a good deal better.

“That was some great idea of yours, Bob,” said Joe admiringly, as he threw away his stick and stooped to pick up the day’s catch. “I suppose the rest of us would just have sat tight like a bunch of boobs and let that bobcat tackle us.”

“It was the craziest idea I ever had,” returned Bob. “It was a long chance, but I guess it was about the only chance we had, at that.”

“Whew,” said Herb, as he thoughtfully wound up his line. “That was enough excitement to last me for a good long while.”

“I didn’t know there were bobcats around here,” said Jimmy, wiping the perspiration from his round face.

“I guess there are all sorts of wild animals in the forest,” replied Joe, adding with a grin: “I guess maybe we’d better get down one of those guns from the wall of the lodge and load it with buckshot. Looks as if we might need it.”

“Well, I guess we’ll not want to do any more fishing to-day, shall we?” asked Jimmy, looking around him rather anxiously. “We’ve got a pretty good haul anyway.”

“Plenty for dinner,” said Bob. “And just now nothing would suit me better than to go home and cook ’em.”

This feeling was heartily shared by the boys, and it did not take them long to gather up their bait and reels and start away from the pool.

Although, by tacit consent, they did not mention their hair-raising experience on that tramp through the woods, it was easy to tell by the way they continually glanced this way and that into the shadows of the forest what was uppermost in their minds.

Of course they had been told there were wild animals on Spruce Mountain, but somehow they had not taken the information very seriously. But since the incident of the afternoon, an incident that might have ended in tragedy, they decided to be more cautious.

“I’m glad we met one, anyway,” said Herb, as, later that night, they prepared for bed.

“Met what?” yawned Jimmy, who, after the day’s exertions, was very weary.

“The bobcat, bonehead,” retorted Herb, unflatteringly. “What did you think I was talking about—the fish?”

“Well,” said Joe, reflectively, “I’ve seen plenty of pictures of wildcats, but as far as I’m concerned I’m perfectly willing to take the pictures’ word for it.”

“Same here,” put in Bob, grinning. “They aren’t particularly playful little animals to have around.”

At that moment Jimmy sank upon his cot with a sigh of abject relief.

“Whew!” he ejaculated, “there aren’t any springs worth mentioning on this downy bed but it sure feels good to me, just the same.”

“Doughnuts wants a spring like the one the fellow had I was reading about the other day,” said Bob.

“What kind is that?” asked Jimmy, through a prodigious yawn.

“Why, this fellow,” chuckled Bob, stretching himself out on his own cot and staring up at the ceiling, “thought up the wonderful idea of using his springs for an aerial.”

The boys gasped at him.

“Now I know you’re fooling,” Herb told him, incredulously.

“Fooling, nothing!” replied Bob. “I never was more serious in my life.”

“You’ve got to prove it to us,” said Joe, as he carefully extracted a fish hook that was on the point of entering his thumb. “Sounds kind of phony to me, Bob.”

“Not at all,” said Bob, still seeming very much amused about something. “It’s really the simplest thing in the world when you’ve once thought of it.

“This fellow doesn’t even use an antenna—not the towering, outside kind, that is. He merely attaches the antenna lead to the springs of his iron bed——”

“How does he make his ground connection then?” asked Joe, still incredulous, while Herb and Jimmy regarded Bob with interest. “Tell me that, then.”

“Easiest thing in the world,” retorted Bob. “He makes the ground connection by means of a water pipe and a radiator in his own quarters.”

Herb whistled.

“Pretty slick—that,” he said admiringly. “Has music to sing him to sleep and everything.”

“But what kind of an outfit has he?” asked Joe, always anxious for technical information.

“It’s a single circuit, regenerative design,” explained Bob. “It has two variometers, a detector tube, two condensers and one-stage of audio-amplification from two ‘B’ batteries. Very simple apparatus when you know about it.”

“Well, that boy was surely original!” exclaimed Herb. “I wouldn’t mind having a set like that myself.”

“It would be easy enough to make,” said Joe, his mind already busy with circuits and condensers and variometers. “And when it was finished you’d have something that not everybody else has, anyway.”

“I’m for it, strong,” said Jimmy, turning over in an effort to find the softest spot in the bed. “And not only for the sake of the music, either. Just think how nice it would be to go to sleep on some real springs. I love music—but oh, you comfort!”

“Oh, go to sleep before I put you there!” commanded Herb, raising a shoe threateningly.