The cougar, after so many vain leaps, lay on the ground for a while panting.

Then he ran up the tree, and as far out on the bough as he dared.

He reached delicately with a forefoot, but he could not touch the strips of bark with which the body was tied.

Then he lay flat upon the bough and snarled again and again.
"That's a good punishment for a rascally thief," whispered Obed.

"I don't blame him for trying to get something to eat, but it's our deer.
Let him go away and do his own hunting." The cougar came back down the tree, but his descent was made with less spirit than his ascent.