in case the cat really attacked her. Thad saw this, and admired
her grit, even though he believed that she would have suffered
dreadfully, had the fight ever come off.

Bob gave a cry of rage as he saw what it all meant. He too snatched up a
stone, and made directly for the wildcat, as though such a thing as fear
did not enter into his calculations. And Thad, a little wiser, seeing
an excellent club handy, made out to get that in his grip ere following
his chum.

Despite the coming of these two new enemies the wildcat showed no sign
of beating a retreat. There may have been some reason for this
unexpected bravery on the animal's part. Usually it is only when
darkness comes that bobcats are dangerous; and in the daytime they will
generally retreat before the coming of human foes.

There may have been kittens somewhere close by; and a mother cat will
attack anything that moves in defense of her offspring.

But just then Thad was not bothering himself with trying to understand
why the fierce beast acted in that altogether remarkable way. What they
wanted to do was to influence the animal to leave the neighborhood, and
the quicker this were done the better they would be pleased.

"Go slow, Bob!" Thad called out, fearful lest his impulsive comrade dash
up so close that in another instant the cat would be upon him, clawing,
biting, and doing all manner of damage.

He swung his club in as ferocious a manner as he could, and made all
sorts of threatening gestures as he rushed forward.

Thinking that if they approached from two separate quarters the beast
might grow more or less confused, and possibly slink away, Thad did not
follow directly in the track of his friend, but made a little detour.

Bob came to a pause. He was not more than a dozen feet away from the
beast now, and there was danger that if he closed in any more the
expected collision must take place.

Thad saw him draw his arm back. Undoubtedly Bob meant to hurl the heavy
rock he had snatched up. If he missed his aim, he would then be entirely
unprotected. But then Bob had pitched on a baseball team several
seasons, and was said to have a very clever delivery, with the faculty
of getting the ball over the rubber with clock-like precision. And a
crouching wildcat, only a dozen feet away, is a large enough object to
be counted a sure thing by an experienced ball player.

So even as Thad looked and wondered, he saw Bob let drive. And when the
rock actually