Whizz! the animal’s body sailed past the lad, who, as he shrieked, sprang back a pace or two, and landed close to the front of the lean-to, where hung several of the dead rabbits. The long, white teeth were snapped together over the backs of two of the dead game, and then, with a leap to one side, the wild and half-famished animal vanished into the gloom behind the neighboring rocks, just as Jack and Harry, guns in hand, tumbled out to see what was the matter. They found Andy leaning up beside the shelter, too faint to stand alone. For fully half a minute he could not speak, but pointed excitedly toward the rocks. “A tiger, or wildcat, or something!” he gasped, at last. “Gone with the rabbits!” “Can’t be a tiger!” returned Harry. “I thought I saw a wildcat when we were in pursuit of Pete Sully and his crowd,” said Jack, quickly. “Let’s take a look.” “Be careful!” exclaimed Andy, in wild alarm. “It’s the worst creature you ever saw! It nearly paralyzed me by a look!” “They are awful!” put in Boxy, making his appearance, followed by Pickles. “I don’t want to have anything to do with it.” But despite the protests of the others Jack and Harry insisted on going after the marauder. They looked to their guns and provided themselves with torches. Their hunt lasted for nearly half an hour without success. Evidently the wildcat had taken itself off to its lair with its prey. After that the boys slept with one eye open, and the one on guard held his gun in readiness for immediate use should the wildcat, or any other animal, put in an appearance. But this precaution was unnecessary, for the balance of the night passed without further interruption. After breakfast the things were packed once more, and they started on the return to their own hut by the lake. “I suppose if we wanted to be mean we could tear down their lean-to,” said Jack. “Don’t touch it,” returned Harry. “The loss of their traps is punishment enough for them, to my way of thinking.” So the shelter was left undisturbed, and soon the valley in which it was situated was left far behind. It was no easy matter to find the way back to the lake, and dragging the heavily-laden sled over the uneven ground and the rocks was the hardest kind of work. They took turns at the job, and frequently stopped to rest. “This shows how anxious those fellows were to spoil our outing,” remarked Jack, during a breathing spell. “The three must have had an everlasting hard time of it getting the traps to the lean-to.” “I wonder what they will do, now their own things have been taken,” said Harry. “Like as not they’ll have to go home in disgust,” said Boxy. “And that’s just what I hope they will do.” “An’ we kin crow ober dem when we gits back!” chuckled Pickles. And then the walk to the camp was resumed. CHAPTER XXVII. A HEAVY STORM.