It was only a shadow in the night, but they knew that it was a cougar, drawn by the savor of the deer.
"Don't shoot," whispered Obed.

"He can't get our meat, but we'll watch him try." They lay quite still and enjoyed the joke.

The cougar sprang again and again, making mighty exertions, but always the rich food swung just out of his reach.

Once or twice his nose nearly touched it, but the two or three inches of gulf which he could never surmount were as much as two or three miles.

He invariably fell back snarling, and he became so absorbed in the hopeless quest that there was no chance of his noticing the man and boy who lay not far away.
The humor of it appealed strongly to Ned and Obed.