daon't yer be sceered of 'em."

I told him I wasn't scared of any tracks, not even a railroad track and
that I'd buy the village for seventy-five cents, if he'd send it C. O. D.
He just stood there laughing. Anyway, it makes me mad when grown up people
jolly scouts about tracking and signaling and all that, just as if it was
only play. Because what do _they_ know about tracks? Who ever heard of a
cow with feet like a cat? _Good night!_ And, besides, often it turns cut
that scouts are right. You wait and see.

Now the things I bought I had in a kind of a flat bundle and I hung it over
my back, because I like to have my hands free. What's the use of wasting
your hands? You'll never find anything out with your back; all your back
is good for, is bundles.

I didn't have any adventures on the way back, till I got to that spring
house in the woods. I was in such a hurry that I didn't even notice the
tracks again. That's how much I was afraid of them.

When I got to the spring house, I went in for a drink of water, and believe
me, it was good. I squeezed in, instead of opening the door wide, because
it scraped so hard on the ground that it was easier to do that than to open
it; and I did the same coming out.

I was just going to start along the path again, when I got a good idea.
That's just the way you get them, sudden like. I decided to shinny up a
tree that was there and see if I couldn't squint our camp over in the west,
because if I could once see it, maybe I'd be able to get to it by a shorter
way than by the path. I did that because it was getting late.

When I got up to the second branch I looked off to the west, but all I
could see was a little smoke curling up into the sky, and I wasn't sure
whether it was from our camp or from some house. The sun was going down
over that way and all the clouds were kind of red on the edges and the sky
looked dandy. At Temple Camp they'd be just about washing up for supper
then. I thought I could tell about where the road was, but I couldn't
decide about the camp and I was just going to shinny down and hit the
trail when I heard a kind of a sound like leaves rustling and then a funny
sort of growl, different from anything I had ever heard before. I looked
around and then I saw; coming through the woods, an animal with big spots
on it and a long tail. I guess it was almost as big as a tiger; anyway, it
was a good deal bigger than a wild cat. It was making a noise as if it was
gr