post till the sun was
high above the horizon, and the dew-wet woods gleamed as if sown with
jewels. Then he came down and began to feed with the ewe, cropping the
short, thin grass with quick bites and finding it far more sweet than
the heavy growths of his old pasture.

Late in the morning, when pasturing was over for the time, the ram and
the little ewe lay down in the shade of a steep rock, comfortably
chewing their cud, while the lamb slept at its mother's side. The ram,
deeply contented, did not observe two gray-brown, stealthy forms
creeping along the slope, from bush to rock, and from stump to
hillock. But the ewe, ever on the watch, presently caught sight of
them, and sprang to her feet with a snort of terror. She knew well
enough what a lynx was. Yet for all her terror she had no thought of
flight. Her lamb was too young to flee, and she would stay by it in
face of any fate.

The ram got up more slowly, turned his head, and eyed the stealthy
strangers with grave curiosity. Curiosity, however, changed into
hostility as he saw by the ewe's perturbation that the strangers were
foes; and a sinister glitter came into the great gold eyes which shone
so brilliantly from his black face.

[Illustration: "THROUGH DARK STRIPS OF FOREST."]

Seeing themselves discovered, the two lynxes threw aside their cunning
and rushed ravenously upon what they counted easy prey. They knew
something of the timorous hearts of sheep, and had little
expectation of resistance. But being, first of all, hungry rather than
angry, they preferred what seemed easiest to get. It was upon the lamb
and the ewe that they sprang, ignoring the ram contemptuously.

One thing which they had not reckoned with, however, was the temper of
the ewe. Before one fierce claw could reach her lamb, she had butted
the assailant so fiercely in the flank that he forgot his purpose and
turned with a snarl of rage to rend her. Meanwhile the other lynx,
springing for her neck, had experienced the unexpected. He had been
met by the lightning charge of the ram, fair in the ribs, and hurled
sprawling into a brittle, pointed tangle of dead limbs sticking up
from the trunk of a fallen tree.

Having delivered this most effective blow, the ram stepped back a pace
or two, mincing on his slender feet, and prepared to repeat it. The
lynx was struggling frantically among the branches, which stuck into
him and tore his fine fur. Just in time to escape the second assault
he g