With the report he saw the deer give a leap into the air; but Adrian knew instinctively that he had done himself proud, for he was well versed in the ways of deer and understood that the animal had received a fatal wound. It would not run a dozen yards before falling dead, of that he felt positive, even as he started to get his rifle in readiness for another shot if necessary, as a true hunter always should. As in a dream the boy saw some furry object shooting straight toward him, coming through the air like a meteor. That one glance was enough to tell him that he had stolen in ahead of a hungry panther that at the time was stalking the deer; and in a rage the aroused beast was now springing straight toward him, meaning to settle the question of hunting rights in that patch of woods then and there. Adrian, more through instinct than anything else, dropped to his knees, and the leaping panther passed just over him, so that he even felt the wind of its flying body. CHAPTER VI. A LIVELY SCRIMMAGE. Even as he dropped flat, and felt that lithe body pass swiftly over him, Adrian heard a shout. Of course this must mean his chums had made the alarming discovery that he was up against a hard proposition; they had been watching him closely from a distance, and when the deer fell in response to his shot doubtless they were about to give a whoop of delight, but at sight of the leaping panther this was changed into a cry of alarm. Adrian did not deceive himself. The fact that he had a couple of good, trustworthy friends so close at hand would not cut much of a figure in his little affair with the hungry panther, perhaps nothing at all. They were some distance away, and even though making all the haste possible, they must consume several minutes of precious time in reaching him; before that came about his business with the gray-coated terror of the canyons of the mountains would have been finished. Accustomed to depending on himself in every emergency, the boy was not at a loss as to what he should do under these trying circumstances. It was lucky, of course, that in making an involuntary duck of his body he had caused the panther to miss his aim. The creature had leaped true enough, but having once left the limb on which he must have been crouched, watching the advance of the human deer-hunter, he could not alter the nature of his spring. But just as soon as he landed on the ground the chances were the agile beast was going to whirl around, and make another try. It was to meet this attack that Adrian got himself in readiness, thrusting out his rifle so as to ward off the savage claws until such time as he could throw out the old shell, and pump another one into the firing chamber of his gun.