In Camp on the Big Sunflower | Page 2

remarked Steve, a tinge of eagerness in his voice, for Steve wanted to distinguish himself while on this camping trip by doing some wonderful exploit.
"And here we stand like a lot of gumps, when our guns are within reach. Right now that terrible beast may be making ready to jump on us."
As the short-legged boy spoke he made a flying leap in the direction of the tent that had been erected.
Both of his campmates were at his heels, and doubtless quite as anxious as himself.
There was a confused series of sounds following their disappearance. Then they came crawling out again, each one gripping some sort of weapon.
"Now, show me your blessed old tiger cat!" cried Steve, handling a double-barreled shotgun valiantly.
"Yes, who cares for a measly wildcat; let him step up and get what's coming to him!" declared Bandy-legs, who was waving the camp hatchet ferociously.
"I'm b-b-badgered if I c-c-care what it is right now. This rifle belonging to Max h-h-holds six bullets, fellows," spluttered Toby.
"Listen!" exclaimed Steve, with more or less authority in his voice.
"Oh, what did you think you heard, Steve?" asked the wielder of the hatchet. "Was it a whine, a cry just like a baby'd make? I've heard that's the way these panthers act just before they spring. Be ready, both of you, to shoot him on the wing."
"Rats! It was voices I heard," declared Steve.
"Then it must be Max and Owen coming back to camp from the river," Bandy-legs asserted.
"Just as like as not," Steve admitted.
"But what if the savage beast drops down on the shoulders of our chums?" said the other in tones that were full of horror.
"C-c-come on, b-b-boys!" panted Toby.
"Where to?" demanded Steve. "I'm comfortable just as I stand. What's eating you now, Toby Jucklin?"
"D-d-didn't you see, we've j-j-just got to warn our c-c-chums, and s-s-stand that t-t-terrible beast off? H-h-hurry, boys!"
"Yes, I see you hurrying," said Steve, with a laugh; "why, you'd fall all over yourself, Toby, and perhaps try to swallow our only hatchet in the bargain. Besides, there's no need of our sallying forth to stand guard over Max and Owen, because here they come right now."
"Sure they are," declared Bandy-legs, "and mebbe we'll be able to find out whether it was a wildcat Toby saw, a panther, or one of those awful Injun devils they say come down here from the Canada woods once in a long time."
"All right, you c'n laugh all you l-like," the boy who stammered said, obstinately; "but wait and s-s-see what Max says."
The two boys, who strode into the camp just then, eyed the warlike group with positive surprise.
"What's going on here?" asked the one in the lead, who seemed to be a well-put-up lad, with a bold, resolute face, clear gray eyes, and of athletic build.
"Why, you see, Max," began Steve in his usual impetuous way, "Toby here thought he saw a hungry cat sizing us up, being in want of a dinner; and so we got ready to give him a warm reception."
"Y-y-you b-b-bet we did!" exclaimed the party in question, shaking his hatchet ferociously.
The boy called Max turned and looked toward his cousin Owen, and there were signs of amusement in his manner.
"D'ye suppose it could have been a bobcat?"
Steve went on, he having his own opinion, which was to the effect that Toby had imagined things.
"Suppose we find out?" suggested Max, promptly.
"Oh, no use asking him!" declared Steve. "As soon as he tries to tell he gets to tumbling all over himself. He saw a pair of staring eyes, and imagined the rest. For my part, I've made up my mind 'twas only a little old owl."
Bandy-legs laughed, while Toby grunted his disgust.
"Huh! think so, d-d-do you, Mister Know-it-all? J-j-just you wait and s-s-see," he remarked.
"Wait for what?" demanded the scoffing Steve.
"Why, Max is g-g-going to find out," asserted Toby. "G-g-guess owls don't leave tracks, d-d-do they? Well, Max c-c-can soon tell us. Huh! an owl!"
"Oh, I reckon we'll soon be able to settle that part of it, all right," said Max, soothingly, for he saw that his two friends were growing a little too earnest in their dispute.
"T-t-told you s-s-so," chuckled Toby.
"Now, first of all, Toby, answer me a few questions, please," began Max, steadily.
"S-s-sure I will; just c-c-crack away," the other piped up, cheerfully enough.
"Sit down again in exactly the same place where you were at the time you saw these yellow eyes staring at you--they were yellow, all right, I suppose?" Max continued.
"R-r-reckon I did s-s-say that," admitted Toby, "b-b-but I might's well confess right n-n-now that I couldn't s-s-say for sure whether the eyes were g-g-green or y-y-yellow. All I k-k-know is they s-s-stared like anything at me."
"Listen to him, would you!" exclaimed Steve; "he's backing off his perch I tell you, taking water to