were saying--

"You just lie still, or I'll bite."

That must have been the meaning, for I lay quite still with the great
heat drops tickling my face and running in the roots of my hair, while
the puma crouched upon my back so that I could feel its shape exactly.

"What can I do?" I said to myself, and then I remembered the old story
about the traveller and the bear--how he shammed death, and the bear
left him. That was what I felt that I must do, and I lay perfectly
still in the hope that the puma would leave me, though it seemed quite
to approve of its couch, and lay close, breathing steadily, so that I
felt the rise and fall of its breast against my back.

Just when I was beginning to feel faint with the heat and excitement, a
thrill ran through me, for from somewhere close at hand, but invisible
to me in the position I occupied, I heard Pete's voice--

"Oh, Master Nat, Master Nat! Are you killed?"

"No," I cried; but I said no more, for there was a savage growl, a snap,
and I felt myself seized at the back of the neck and shaken, but the
puma had only seized the collar of my loose jacket, so that I was unhurt
still.

"What shall I do, Master Nat?" cried Pete.

The puma loosed its hold of the collar of my jacket, and I felt it raise
its head as if looking in the direction of Pete, and it growled fiercely
again.

"Shoot, Pete, shoot!" I cried, feeling that at all risks I must speak.

The puma's teeth gripped my collar again, and I could fell its claws
glide out of their sheaths like a cat's and press upon my shoulders,
giving me a warning of what the beast could do.

But its attention was taken off directly by Pete's voice, and it raised
its head again and growled at him as if daring him to approach and rob
it of its prey.

For Pete cried in a despairing tone--

"I dursn't shoot, Master Nat, I dursn't shoot. I aren't clever with a
gun, and I should hit you."

I knew this was quite true, and that under the circumstances I dared not
have fired, so I lay perfectly still, trying to think out what to do,
for the animal seemed determined not to leave me, and I began to grow
giddy as well as faint.

Then I started, for there was a rustling of the grass and a sharp crack,
as if Pete had trodden upon a dead twig.

The puma growled again furiously, and then as I started, seized my
collar tight in its teeth and shook me, for the sharp report of the gun
Pete carried rang out, followed by that of a second