Roy Blakeley, Pathfinder | Page 9

it was grumbling to itself, then all of a sudden, it opened its mouth wide, as if it was going to roar, but it didn't. It came almost up to the tree and stood still and its tail hung on the ground and wriggled like a snake.
I have to admit that I was good and scared. I just held onto the tree and didn't make a move; I guess I hardly breathed. Then, all of a sudden, the branch I was standing on cracked.
CHAPTER VIII
UP A TREE
Good night!
First I thought I was going to fall, but I reached up and got hold of the branch above and scrambled up to it. The animal was crouching on the ground, looking up, and its eyes were just like fire. Its tail was wriggling just like a snake. Oh boy, I was scared.
But anyway, I wasn't rattled. There's a difference between being scared and rattled. That's one thing scouts don't get-rattled. I looked down and saw him there and I knew I was in a mighty dangerous fix, but that only made me think harder. It seemed to me that that animal must be a leopard because he had spots, but of course, I knew there weren't any leopards in America. Africa is where they hang out. But you can bet I didn't think much about how he happened to be there. He was there, and that was enough for me. Gee, I like natural history all right, but not when there's a wild animal just below me. Nix! He was crouching and he looked just as if he was going to make a spring for the tree. Mr. Ellsworth says that most fights are won by quick thinking, so I knew that if I could only think of something to do quicker than that animal could spring, I'd be all right.
First I thought I'd just shinny down and run and maybe he wouldn't follow me. That was a punk think. All of a sudden he opened his mouth wide and kind of hissed at me and came just about two or three inches closer to the tree.
Then, all in a jiffy I had a-you know-what do you call those things? An inspiration. I pulled the bundle around from my back and tore it open and tore open the paper that the two chops were in. Charlie Seabury says he ought to have the gold cross because he saved my life, but I don't see it. Do you? Just because I was bringing the chops to him. He says he made a sacrifice. I should worry.
Even the sound of the paper crunching made the animal move a little nearer and hiss louder and paw the ground with one of its fore feet. I guess in a couple more seconds he would have had me, but I just threw one of the chops right at him and he pounced on it.
Illustration #1 "The animal was crouching on the ground, looking up."
That gave me two or three seconds to think. Because you can see for yourself that if an animal is ready to eat a boy scout it wouldn't take him very long to eat a chop. Maybe you'll say it wasn't good to give him raw meat, but how about me. Wasn't I raw meat? It was better to give him the chop and have a few seconds to think than to let him do the thinking and get me.
That was the time when I did some thinking in four or five seconds. Gee whiz, you have to think quick at school exams, but cracky, leopards are worse than school principals, I should hope. Anyway, they're just as bad.
Now was the time I wished that I had left the door of the spring house open a little wider, because I had a dandy idea. As long as the animal knew what it was I was throwing, he'd go after the other chop when I threw it. Because chops were his favorite food, I could see that. So if I could only just throw the other chop into the doorway he'd go in there after it, and while he was eating it I'd shinny down in a hurry and shut the door and wedge a board against it. I said to myself that I could do that quicker than he could eat the chop, and one thing sure, he wouldn't bother with me while he was doing it. An animal can never think about two things at once and he thinks about food most of all. Maybe scouts think about food a lot, too, but anyway, they can think about two things at once. That's the difference between scouts and wild animals.
Oh, if I had only left that door wide open! Then I could have