long, cold
December night. More than once they heard the creature "sharpen its
claws" on tree trunks, and the sound was by no means cheerful. The brute
seemed bent on remaining near the little camp. I remember that Grandsir
Billy said that they heard it "garp" several times; I suppose he meant
yawn. The circumstance seems rather strange. He said that it "garped"
like a big dog every time it sharpened its claws. Yet it did not cease
to watch the little inclosure.

At last, tired with watching the boys fell asleep, a circumstance that
is not strange perhaps when you consider they had plodded fifteen miles
that day and had carried heavy loads.

They slept for some time. From later events the boys could infer what
took place outside the hut. The late-rising moon swung up from behind
the dark tree-tops. The panther had crept to within a few feet of the
shack. Suddenly it crouched and sprang upon the roof of the little camp!
When it struck the flimsy roof, the boys woke up. For an instant the
whole frail structure shook; then it reeled and partly collapsed. The
boys sprang up, and as they did so a big paw with claws spread burst
through the roof and came down between them! The claws opened and closed
as the paw moved to and fro. Billy's face was scratched slightly, and
Joe's jacket was ripped. Joe then seized the paw with both hands and
tried to hold it. The roof swayed and trembled and, for a moment, seemed
about to fall; then the panther withdrew its paw, and the boys heard the
creature leap off and bound away.

Hunters say that if a panther misses its first spring it will not try
again. That may sometimes be true; but in this case the panther went off
a short distance among the trees and after a few minutes crept forward
as if to spring again. Terribly excited, the boys peered out at it and
waited. They could not close the door of the camp. The whole structure
had lurched to one side, and several sheets of bark had fallen from the
light frame. Billy wanted to rush out and run, but his comrade, fearful
lest the panther should chase them, held him back.

Now for the first time it occurred to Joe that he might divert the
creature's attention by throwing out some of the dead martens. Cutting
one of them loose, he slung it as far as he could into the woods.
Immediately the panther stole forward, seized the carcass of the little
animal in its mouth and ran off. But before long it returned, and then
Joe threw out a second mar