particularly savage cat. He knew the
deadly power of its hind claws, with all the strength of those great
hind quarters behind them. As he grappled with the screeching lynx,
silently, after the fashion of his bull ancestors, he received a
ripping slash from one of its armed fore paws, but succeeded in fixing
his grip on the base of the beast's neck, not far from the throat.
Instantly he drew himself backward with all his weight, crouching
flat, and dragging the enemy down with him.

In this position, Sonny, backing and pulling with all his strength,
the spitting and screeching cat was unable to bring its terrible
hinder claws into play. The claws of the beast's great fore paws,
however, were doing cruel work on Sonny's back and sides; while its
long fangs, pointed like daggers, tore savagely at the one point on
his shoulder which they could reach. This terrible punishment Sonny
took stoically, caring only to protect the tender under part of his
body and his eyes. His close grip on the base of the animal's neck
shielded his eyes, and, according to the custom of his tenacious
breed, he never relaxed his hold for a moment, but kept chewing in,
chewing in, inexorably working his way to a final, fatal grip upon the
throat. And not for a moment, either, did he desist from his steady
backward pull, which kept the foe from doubling upon him with its hind
quarters.

For several minutes the furious struggle went on, Sonny, apparently,
getting all the worst of it. His back and shoulders were pouring
blood; while his enemy showed not a hurt. Then suddenly the gray
beast's screeching took on a half strangling sound. With its mouth
wide open it ceased to bite, though its fore paws raked and clawed
more desperately than ever. Sonny's relentless hold was beginning to
throttle. His mouth was now too full of long fur and loose skin for
him to bite clean through the throat and finish the fight. But he felt
himself already the victor.

Suddenly, as he continued that steady backward drag, the resistance
ceased. The lynx had launched itself forward in one last convulsive
struggle to free itself from those strangling teeth at its throat. For
a second or two Sonny felt himself overwhelmed, engulfed, in a vortex
of rending claws. In a tight ball of hate and ferocity and horror the
two rolled over and over in the underbrush. Sonny, doubled up hard to
protect his belly, heard a shrill cry of fear from the Kid. At the
sound he summoned into h