y to do
it. We can't fly over, and consequently it's up to us to go around, or
else turn back and acknowledge ourselves baffled."

"I hate to do that last the worst thing," grumbled Steve, giving another
whack at the ground with his long club, shaped somewhat like a baseball
bat; "but whatever you say goes, Jack."

"It looks a trifle easier traveling over on the left," observed Jack,
"so let's make our try there."

When they started, there was another volley of snarls from the beast in
the tree, evidently laboring under the impression that this flank
movement had some bearing on the safety of her precious offspring.

Steve kept his eyes turned in that quarter about as much as he used them
to take notice of the way he was going. Every unusually loud snarl made
him think the cat was about to launch herself toward them in an attack;
so that the boy was kept worked up to fever heat all the time.

"She's on the move, Jack!" he now hissed. "I saw her leap down to the
ground and run along. Say, she's keeping on a line with us, would you
believe it?"

Jack took a look himself in order to be convinced.

"You're right there, Steve," he said, with a short laugh. "After all our
trying this little dodge may not be worth the candle."

"She's bent on keeping us from advancing, seems like," complained Steve.
"Why, the pesky thing acts like she had a mortgage on all that stretch
of woods beyond here, and didn't mean to let us foreclose on her
either."

"One thing sure, she isn't afraid of two fellows like us," chuckled
Jack. "Even our clubs have no terror for the mother of the kitties. Why,
if we dared push on ahead she'd jump at us like a flash."

"I certainly feel cheap, being held up like this by an ordinary cat,"
gritted the burly Steve between his teeth.

"When you're up against an enraged wildcat mother," Jack told him, "and
without a sign of a gun to back you, that's the time to spell prudence
in big capital letters. They've got terrible claws, and can use them to
tear a fellow's clothes to ribbons, not to mention what they'll do to
your hide. No use talking, Steve, if the miserable beast is dead set on
keeping us from going on we'll have to own up beaten, and retire with
our skins whole."

"I've lost track of her for a minute, Jack. Wonder now if she's gone
back to her family, thinking we've been scared off."

"You can test that easy enough," he was informed; "just take a step or
two forward, and see what happens