ome to close quarters with them.

A few days later, one evening, just at twilight, when Black Bruin was
prowling cautiously after a deer family, consisting of a buck, two
does, and three fawns, he made the acquaintance of another cat, much
larger and more supple than the lynx.

The deer were moving slowly from point to point, browsing as they went,
when suddenly from the tree-tops, fell a long lithe figure.

So swift and terrible was its coming that the doe upon whom it sprang
was borne to the ground. The great cat did not wait for it to recover,
but with claw and fang soon throttled it, while the rest of the herd
fled at a breakneck pace, their white flags up.

Here was game already killed. The great cat was not over a third as
heavy as Black Bruin. It would doubtless run away at his approach as
did everything else.

So thought the bear as he rushed in to take the kill from the cougar,
but he had reckoned without his host.

The panther was so intent upon its own game that it did not notice the
approach of the bear until the rival hunter was within thirty feet of
the prize. Then it wheeled about and was instantly transformed into a
demon. Its tail lashed its sides, its fangs were bared in the ugliest
snarl that Black Bruin had ever faced and its eyes fairly blazed.

Black Bruin backed off a few feet to get a better look at the terrible
stranger. He had not expected opposition and such effrontery was new
to him.

But the panther continued to lash her sides with her tail and to glare
and snarl, so the bear circled about and about, trying to get behind
his adversary. Finally, seeing that the panther had no notion of
giving up the kill, the bear went in search of other game.

But he was not afraid of the great cat, only astonished and curious.
He knew quite well that the deer did not belong to him and this may
have kept him from picking a quarrel.

If he had met the cat in any of the forest highways and it had disputed
his right to any of the privileges of the ancient woods, he would have
given battle. So he was still the king of the mountain, although he
had left the cat in full possession of the deer.

Spring and summer came and went. The blueberries ripened in the
pastures and scant clearings, and the blackberries along the edge of
the woods. All the native roots that Black Bruin knew so well grew in
abundance.

Occasionally he stole from the distant settlements, as the king of the
mountain had a