But it occurred to Wilbur that it was not unlikely that he might have to
come back to the spring a second time for more water, and he did not
wish to risk another encounter. He thought to himself that if he did
return and interrupted the wild-cat a second time he would not escape as
easily as he had on this occasion, and consequently he tried to devise a
means to prevent such meeting. He figured that if he picked up the
rabbit and threw it far into the woods the cat would follow and the path
to the spring would be open. Forgetting for the moment that he could not
expect the angry creature in the tree to divine the honesty of his
intentions, he stooped down and grasped the rabbit by the leg to throw
it into the forest. As he did so, the wild-cat, thinking herself about
to be deprived of her prey, sprang at him.

With one hand holding the pot of water, which, boy-like, he did not want
to spill, and the other grasping the rabbit, Wilbur was terribly
handicapped. But, by the greatest good fortune, as he stooped, the
crotch of the stick that he was carrying caught the wild-cat under the
body as she launched herself at him from the tree. The stick was
knocked out of the boy's grasp, but it also turned the cat aside, and
she half fell, landing on Wilbur's outstretched leg, instead of on his
neck, which was the objective point in her spring. As her claws ripped
into the soft flesh of his thigh, Wilbur released his hold of the
rabbit, drew his revolver, and fired full at the creature hanging on his
leg.

Almost instantaneously with the shot, however, one of her foreclaws shot
out and caught the back of his right hand, making a long but superficial
gash from the wrist to the knuckles. At the same time, too, one of her
hind claws struck down, opening the calf of the leg and making the boy
sick for a moment. His right hand was bleeding vigorously and paining a
good deal, but his finger was still on the trigger and Wilbur fired
again. A moment later, the Ranger came running into the clearing. But
before he reached the boy's side the cat had fallen limply to the
ground. The second shot had gone clear through her skull, and, being
fired at point-blank distance, had almost blown her head off.

The old Ranger, without wasting time in words, quickly examined the
boy's injuries and found them slight, although they were bleeding
profusely. Wilbur reached out the pot full of water from the spring.

"Here's the water, Rifle-Eye," he said