r
portion of the opposite steep,--the western wall of the ravine, barren,
unlike its fellow, bossed with great rocky projections, and harsh with
stunted junipers. Out of the sluggish dark that lay along the ravine as
in a trough, rose the brawl of a swollen, obstructed stream.

Out of a shadowy hollow behind a long white rock, on the lower edge of
that part of the steep which lay in the moonlight, came softly a great
panther. In common daylight his coat would have shown a warm fulvous
hue, but in the elvish decolorizing rays of that half hidden moon he
seemed to wear a sort of spectral gray. He lifted his smooth round head
to gaze on the increasing flame, which presently he greeted with a
shrill cry. That terrible cry, at once plaintive and menacing, with an
undertone like the fierce protestations of a saw beneath the file, was a
summons to his mate, telling her that the hour had come when they should
seek their prey. From the lair behind the rock, where the cubs were
being suckled by their dam, came no immediate answer. Only a pair of
crows, that had their nest in a giant fir-tree across the gulf, woke up
and croaked harshly their indignation. These three summers past they had
built in the same spot, and had been nightly awakened to vent the same
rasping complaints.

The panther walked restlessly up and down, half a score of paces each
way, along the edge of the shadow, keeping his wide-open green eyes upon
the rising light. His short, muscular tail twitched impatiently, but he
made no sound. Soon the breadth of confused brightness had spread itself
further down the steep, disclosing the foot of the white rock, and the
bones and antlers of a deer which had been dragged thither and devoured.

By this time the cubs had made their meal, and their dam was ready for
such enterprise as must be accomplished ere her own hunger, now grown
savage, could hope to be assuaged. She glided supplely forth into the
glimmer, raised her head, and screamed at the moon in a voice as
terrible as her mate's. Again the crows stirred, croaking harshly; and
the two beasts, noiselessly mounting the steep, stole into the shadows
of the forest that clothed the high plateau.

The panthers were fierce with hunger. These two days past their hunting
had been well-nigh fruitless. What scant prey they had slain had for the
most part been devoured by the female; for had she not those small blind
cubs at home to nourish, who soon must suffer at any lac