nded the woman.

The agony in the expression of the schoolmaster's face seemed to be
deepened by the question, but he made no response.

"What's the matter, Master Hargrave?" demanded the woman once more.
"'Tis Peleg and I who are here to help you."

Suddenly from the lips of the tormented man came the cry, "I have caught
a cat!" Perspiration was streaming from his face, and his manner,
expressive of fright, agony, and fatigue combined, made his words
scarcely recognizable.

Peleg glanced behind him and saw that many more of the neighbours had
arrived and were curiously standing within the room at a safe distance
from the desk, watching the actions of the man, who still writhed and
twisted as he clung to the desk in front of him.

The young hunter darted around the corner of the rude desk, to discover
the cause of all the trouble. He first saw that a part of the clothing
of the unfortunate man had been torn from his body, which was pressed
against the edge of the desk. Closer inspection showed that the teeth of
a huge "cat," or lynx, were fastened in the side of the schoolmaster.
Bringing his gun to his shoulder the scout was about to fire, when the
fear of Master Hargrave became stronger even than his sufferings.

"Don't shoot! Don't shoot! You will hit me! Oh-h-h-h!" he screamed,
still striving to hold his adversary against the edge of the desk.

Disregarding the appeal, Peleg fired, and after a few confused
struggles, the huge cat was lifeless.

Still the schoolmaster held the body in its place, however, and when his
sympathetic friends drew him back they were horrified to discover that
the jaws of the dead lynx were locked about one of his ribs. Several
minutes elapsed before the man was freed from this death grip.

Meanwhile the assembly in the room had increased, and several children
that had been brought by their mothers lifted up their voices to add to
the general confusion.

In the midst of it all, Mrs. Horan was not to be denied the
satisfaction of her curiosity. Pressing more closely upon the man who
now had been placed on one of the rude benches almost in a fainting
condition, she said: "I thought at first, Master Hargrave, that it was
spirits, but now I see it was just a cat. Why did you fight the lynx in
that way?"

Ignoring his suffering, the schoolmaster managed to gasp out a tolerably
full explanation:

"What do you suppose? I was sitting alone at my desk, writing copy for
the children to