THE PANTHER AND THE CAVE
Exclamations of fear escaped the boys as they saw the threatening
attitude of the fierce animal in the cliff cave. Hal, who had had recent
experience with a similar animal--perhaps the same one--stood his ground
and gazed calmly at the mountain lion. But Ferdinand and Frank were
quickly panic-stricken and turned and fled into the passage. Byron
hesitated a few moments; then the fright of Bad and Fes proved too much
for his nerve, and he turned and followed them as fast as he could run.
It would be too much to expect even Hal to stand cool and unmoved under
such discouraging circumstances. The support of even a physically weak
companion would have tended to strengthen his nerve. As it was, he felt
an irresistible power pulling him backward, and he, too, turned and
raced after the other Boy Scouts.
He expected any moment to hear the panther come hounding after him and
to be knocked over by the springing of the heavy body upon his back. In
despair he wished he had not lost courage and had stood his ground, but
he had no power to turn and await the approach of the animal. It was too
late now. His only hope--but was there any hope at all?
Yes, there was. In the passage was the cave with the rude timber door.
The other boys were just entering it. Hal reached the entrance just as
Frank was swinging the door to.
Fearfully he looked behind, and saw the mountain lion entering the
passage in a half hesitating manner. Doubtless he had had experience
with human beings that taught him the wisdom of dealing cautiously with
them. Hal stepped inside and pulled the door to; then, finding that it
swung easily and fitted the entrance fully, he pushed it open again and
stepped outside.
The panther had stopped twenty feet away, crouching to spring, yet
hesitating as if afraid. It was rather dark in the passage and his eyes
blazed like two coals of fire. Hal stood ready to spring back into the
cave and pull the door to if he should spring.
"Come on in and shut the door," pleaded Frank in trembling tones. Byron
and Fred seconded the request, but Hal had good reason for doing
otherwise.
If he shut himself and his companions in the cave, it would mean a long
imprisonment. He would be afraid to open the door again lest he find the
panther close to the entrance ready to spring in. Meanwhile Mr. Miles
would return and would be unable to find them, and then the mischief
would be to pay. Hal must remain outside and watch for the airship and
scream for help when the aviator landed.
"No, I'm going to stay here as long as he don't spring at me," Hal
replied. "If it's too dark in there and you're afraid, here's some
matches."
He took several matches from his pocket and held them behind him. Byron
stepped out gingerly and received them and hastened back into the cave.
Meanwhile, Hal was measuring the distance between him and the puma and
wondering if he couldn't do something to make the big cat retreat.
"If I'd pick up one of these stones and fire it at him, I wonder what
he'd do," he mused. "Would he jump at me or would he jump back? Maybe I
ought to just try to scare him and not hit him. If I hit him, it may
make him mad.
"No, I guess I'll throw one right at him. I couldn't hit him if I tried.
Nobody could hit a cat; they're too quick."
So he picked up a stone half as large as his fist and threw it with all
his force right at the animal. The latter sprang nimbly aside and the
stone bounded several yards farther on. Encouraged at the failure of the
mountain lion to spring at him, Hal picked up another stone and hurled
it, then another and another and another. The beast sprang aside and
backward each time, snarling angrily, but hardly with an accent of
courage. Hal kept up his attack with more and more vigor, and presently
the animal turned and bounded out of the passage. Just as he
disappeared, Hal's three companions came rushing toward him in a manner
so startling that the watcher outside chilled with a fear that the
panther's mate had been discovered inside.
They stopped at the entrance, thus reassuring Hal somewhat. But this
reassurance was dispelled when he turned and saw their white faces and
scared attitudes.
"What's the matter?" he inquired, for the moment forgetting the panther.
"Oh, Hal!" gasped Frank. "There's a man back there, and he's dead!"
"A man! Dead!"
It was Hal's turn to gasp.
"Yes," replied Frank. "We lit some matches and saw him."
"There's a gun back there, too," continued Fes, and Hal interrupted him
eagerly.
"Is that so?" he exclaimed. "Bun, you and Bad stay here and watch, while
Fes and I go and have a look. If the panther comes back, holler to me,
but don't shut the door unless he comes too close."
With these instructions, Hal entered the cave, followed by the trembling
Ferdinand. He struck a match to light his way, and held another to
substitute as soon as the first should burn out. The hole in the wall
was an ordinary cave, eight feet wide beyond the narrow entrance, six or
seven feet from floor to ceiling, and fifteen feet deep.
At the farther end, Hal discovered evidences that the place had been
used as a living room. There was no table and no chair, but he found a
lantern, a pine box, a gun, some blankets and several articles of
clothing. On the blankets lay the form of a man. His clothes were torn
and his face was mangled. Evidently he had been attacked by some wild
animal, perhaps the mountain lion. The man must have been dead for two
or three days.
Realizing that no more time should be spent in this place, Hal picked up
the rifle which leaned against the wall, and returned to the entrance.
There he examined the weapon, which was a Winchester. He pulled down the
lever, which opened the chamber and disclosed five cartridges resting in
the magazine. At the same time an empty shell flew out, and as he threw
back the lever a fresh cartridge slipped into its place.
"Come on, fellows," said Hal, starting for the entrance. "If the panther
comes too close, I'll shoot 'im. But I don't think he'll bother us."
The boys hastened out of the pass and into the belt of timber. Before
they reached the open, they discovered the airship resting on the ground
and Mr. Miles looking about him in alarm at the disappearance of the
four Scouts.
"Where have you been?" he inquired as they came near. Then he added in a
tone of astonishment: "And where did you get that gun?"
"We've had some adventure, believe me," replied Hal, as he stopped and
rested the butt of the rifle on a rock. "We've seen a panther and found
a dead man in a cave."
The aviator was amazed and demanded further details. The boys told their
story in a picturesque manner, with many gestures and some slang. The
aviator would have been glad to have made a personal investigation, but
it was getting so late that he decided it best not to delay. So he said:
"We've got to get a move on us, or we'll find ourselves making a trip
through the air in the dark. Come on, now. Who's going on the next
trip?"
Frank and Ferdinand got aboard, and the ship again jerked and bounded
over the rough ground, then arose and circled toward the school. Hal and
Byron remained, with the gun for protection in case the mountain lion
should appear again. But little fear was felt from that source after the
experience they had had with the animal.
"I bet it's the same panther we met over on Porcupine," declared Byron
soon after they were left alone.
"I bet it is too," replied Hal.
In a short time after they saw the airship glide down onto the campus,
it arose again, and in ten minutes it alighted on Flathead once more.
Then Hal and Byron got aboard and experienced their first thrills as
aerial passengers. It was not nearly so sensational as they had
expected, however. Indeed, it was hardly more thrilling than going up in
an elevator, for they were shut in on all sides and could look out only
through the windows, and this proved not much different from gazing out
of a window of a sky-scraper in the city.