Here Maurice had piled quite some wood, which doubtless he calculated fastening to the spare rope, so that it could be dragged aboard once he had joined his chum. Smaller stuff he would stow away in the tender, and thus avoid getting the same wet. But Thad was not bothering his head about the wood just then; he could still hear the barking, and the voice of his friend not far away, accompanied by various mysterious sounds that seemed to resemble the dropping of a heavy body on the ground. So he gripped the gun and began to move forward, steeling his nerves for any sort of surprise possible. In this fashion he presently reached what seemed to be a little glade, where at some time in the dim past the trees had gone down, either in a hurricane or before a settler's ax. Then the show was before him! His attention was immediately attracted to a moving object that continued to leap upward with wriggling movements, and then fall back again to the ground, to obtain new footing and try again. And each attempt was being greeted by disdainful remarks from Maurice, who could be seen dangling his legs some seven feet or so up in a friendly tree. Thad breathed freer. He knew now that his chum had been wise enough to take refuge among the branches of this tree when he lost hold of the ax with which he had been defending himself. And since he seemed so very merry now, it was evident that he had not been badly injured by the teeth of the brute. Thad began to push his Marlin forward, as though he might mean business from the start. He did not fancy the looks of the big dog, which was of a dingy yellow-color, and as large as a two-month-old calf. Possibly he belonged to some farmer within a mile or so of the spot; or it might be that he was a stray beast, drawn back to the original state of his kind by the call of the wild. Thad did not try to find out, and indeed, there was no possible way in which he could ascertain, since the dog could not talk. Maurice had apparently become aware of his presence, for just then he called out. "Take care, Thad, he's a holy terror of a brute. If you shoot be sure you get him, or he'll jump you like he did me. He's mad clear through. Hi! look out. he's scented you and he's coming!" Thad needed no warning, for he had been watching the big buff dog every second of the time. He dropped on one knee, and threw the Marlin up to his shoulder with a resolute air. Thad could hardly be said to be an expert shot, for his opportunities to go out hunting had never been very numerous; still, he possessed nerve, and could aim straight, which, after all, were qualities standing him in better stead just then than experience. The beast was coming all right, there could be no doubt about that; and his appearance, with that hair bristling along above his shoulders, was anything but pacifying. To the kneeling lad the rush of a lion in the African wilds could not have seemed more fierce.