g."

"So I have heard. I hope he will leave his ferrule behind. Whew! My
knuckles ache now with the mention! Still _he_ seemed to get some
pleasure out of it, but----"

Peleg stopped suddenly as a faint cry was heard far in their rear. It
was a sound not unlike that made by a child in distress. Weird,
pathetic, startling as it was, neither of the boys was for a moment
unaware of its meaning. It was the cry of a panther far in the distance.

[Illustration: "'What is that?' At the question the two pioneer boys
stopped abruptly"]

And panthers not infrequently hunted in pairs. It might be possible that
two of the treacherous creatures had been following the slowly moving
caravan, for slow-moving it was indeed. The children and women were
carried on the backs of the horses. The few heavy wagons were dragged
with difficulty over the rough ground, and many a time the entire band
was compelled to halt while the men felled a tree which blocked their
advance.

"I tell you," said Peleg in a whisper, "that sound we heard before was
made by a painter."

"It may be true."

"Will you stay here while I go back over the trail a little way to see
if I can find any signs of the varmints? It is yet too light for them to
attack us, but I should like to know if there is a pair on our trail."

"Do not go far," said James Boone hesitatingly.

"You may be sure that I shall not be over-venturesome. I shall return
directly."

In a moment Peleg disappeared from the sight of his companion as he
lightly and yet swiftly sped back over the way by which they had come.

Left alone, young Boone seated himself upon a fallen tree and awaited
the return of his companion. Holding his rifle lightly in his hands
after he had carefully looked to its priming, he was keenly observant of
all about him. He had been disturbed more than he had acknowledged to
Peleg by the sounds which they had heard. He had known of instances in
which a panther had trailed a man for many hours. The conjecture of
Peleg that a pair of the hated beasts might be following the slowly
moving settlers was not improbable.

As the moments passed the anxiety of the young hunter for his companion
increased. No sound to alarm him had broken in upon the silence, and yet
somehow the son of the great pioneer scout was anxious for his friend.

Rising from his seat he ran swiftly in the direction in which Peleg had
gone. In a few moments he discovered his friend standing beneath a
s