They had not cared to seek their lair during the night on account of the fires; and, worrying over their cubs, they were not in the most agreeable mood.
Kathlyn saw their approach in time to reach her platform.

They snarled about the tree, and the male climbed up as far as the platform.
Kathlyn reached over with a stout club and clouted the brute on his tender nose.
A shot broke the silence and a bullet spat angrily against the tree trunk.

Two cats fled.

Immediately there came a squealing and trumpeting from the stockade.
This is what had happened: The chief mahout had discovered the cubs and had taken them into the stockade just as another hunter had espied the parent leopards.

The rifle shot had frightened one of the wild elephants.