not a sound did the prowling animal make, but its very silence seemed to add to the terrifying effect it had upon dorothy dale and her chum.
as the feeble flames rose and fell, so the reflected glare of the eyes increased and decreased. the pitiless, unwinking orbs displayed the savage intent of the beast.
for half a minute dorothy was helpless, as was her chum. she had not partaken of tavia’s panic before; she had really scouted the idea that savage animals roamed these woods. but she must believe now!
however, to faint—to give up hope of escape—to helplessly await the closer approach of the beast whose eyes they saw, did not once enter dorothy dale’s mind.
she threw off tavia’s clutching hands quickly, reached for some fuel, and threw it on the flickering campfire. almost at once the flames burst out and mounted higher. their glare revealed193 the immediate surroundings of the rude encampment, but nothing of the strange marauder but the glittering eyes was visible to the girls.
dorothy was quite sure that while the fire burned brightly no wild animal would throw itself upon them. wolves, she knew, were cowardly alone; only in the pack were they courageous enough to attack man. as for its being a bear—those eyes never belonged to bruin. he would not remain still so long.
the unwinking nature of their observation forced dorothy to determine that the eyes belonged to a member of the cat tribe. a panther? no more terrible beast, she was sure, roamed the colorado wilderness.
somewhere, when she was much younger, dorothy had seen a picture in a book of african adventure, in which a huge lion was shown leaping over a line of fires around a hunter’s camp to get at the cattle. ordinarily, she was sure, the cat tribe was much afraid of the flames, but suppose this individual that was watching her and tavia was particularly hungry?
would the miserable little blaze prevent the beast from leaping upon them? the same thought seemed to unlock the chains of tavia’s speech, for she whispered:
“throw on more wood, dorothy. make a big blaze.”
“but we haven’t so much wood,” objected dorothy.
“oh, do! perhaps a big fire will drive it off.”
dorothy recklessly heaped on more fuel. the flames leaped and crackled. but their light did not show the outlines of the enemy. it seemed to be crouching in the deep shadow at the edge of the forest. nothing showed of the creature but those terrible eyes.
“if we only had a gun,” whispered dorothy, with longing.
“we’d be afraid to shoot at it,” gasped tavia.
“not i! i’d try to make a bullseye.”
“can’t we try to scare it off in some way?”
“let’s scream—both together!” cried dorothy dale. “now!”
if fear-inspired shrieks ever issued from feminine throats, the abandoned yell of tavia was a triumphant specimen. nor was dorothy far behind in the piercing quality of her cry.
it is doubtful if any mountain lion in all the wild places of the west could have equalled the quality of the girls’ yells. and——
“the nasty beast never so much as winked an eye!” tavia gasped, horrified.
dorothy was fully as much amazed as her chum. there was something uncanny about the twinkling, glistening spots. she had never heard of any creature with such unwinking eyes—save195 a serpent. and surely these eyes did not belong to any reptile.
she threw more fuel on the fire. again the flames leaped up. the heap of wood they had gathered was fast being diminished. dorothy looked at her watch. only half-past ten! the beast had been watching them—she was sure—for an hour.
suppose it remained all night? they had not fuel enough to last until midnight at the reckless rate they were using it.
when it was all gone, and the fire died down—what then? the thought was really terrifying. if the blaze was what kept the beast at bay, once the fire was dead, the girls would be at the animal’s mercy.
dorothy dale did not lose her head and become hysterical, like tavia. she knew something must be done. tavia was absolutely helpless. after they had so uselessly screamed, she just sat hiding her eyes, and trembling.
dorothy knew that if anything was to be done to scare away the beast, it devolved upon her to do it. now! should she try to gather more fuel, or should she rise up and attack the watchful brute?
the latter was the more desperate expediency, yet the wiser. a quick dash might drive the animal away.
196 without a word to tavia of her intention, dorothy gathered her feet under her, reached for a blazing branch on the fire, and suddenly sprang erect.
with a scream she leaped past the fire and, holding the flaming branch straight out before her, ran across the glade toward the staring eyes!
had she stopped to contemplate the desperate venture, she never would have started. almost as she determined on making the attack, she had sprung into action.
she was half way to the edge of the woods ere she realized that her charge did not seem to startle the enemy at all. the eyes did not even blink.
if ever in her life, dorothy dale showed desperate courage at this moment. she kept straight on—whirling the burning branch to make the sparks fly—and dashed up to the bulky object which had so terrified her and her chum.
it was a good sized boulder imbedded in the earth at the edge of the forest. its face was split and scarred; two bits of mica in its front had caught and reflected the firelight, and so looked like a pair of staring eyes. this was the dreadful beast of prey that had held them in durance for an hour and a half!
the reaction of her discovery deprived dorothy dale’s limbs of their strength. she fell to the ground, and the flaming branch sputtered before her and flickered out. tavia screamed again, but dorothy was laughing weakly—almost hysterically.
“oh, tavia travers! what a perfect pair of dunces we are,” gasped dorothy. “it’s nothing—nothing, i tell you! just some bright specks in a rock. if the boys ever hear of this they will tease us to death about it.”
“let them,” cried tavia, with recovered bravado. “i shall tell. you’re just the very bravest girl i ever saw, dorothy dale! you believed that was an awful, ravenous beast when you started for it with the torch. i consider that you have saved me from being devoured by the most savage creature that ever happened!”
“what shall we name it?” giggled dorothy, climbing slowly to her feet and coming back with tavia to the fire.
“oh, a bhronosaurus—or a dynosaura—or—or something. maybe a pteryodactyl. didn’t they all live in the stone age?”
“and you just from the scholastic halls of old glenwood!” cried dorothy. “i am astounded, tavia travers.”
“you needn’t be,” said her chum, coolly. “there are a whole lot of things i had to learn that i hope i have already forgotten. i guess the history of a million years, or so, ago, is fading fast from my overburdened mind. and i’ll certainly feel better when it is all wiped out.”
the incident served to bring tavia to a better condition of mind. she shook off her foolish fears, and even assisted dorothy in gathering a larger supply of firewood.
“for although those eyes were those of a bogey,” said dorothy, wisely, “there may be creatures who would trouble us before morning if we had no fire.”
“who’s going to keep awake to feed the fire?” yawned tavia.
“i’ll keep first watch,” agreed dorothy.
“all right. ow—yow! i can’t keep my eyes open and my mouth shut. if a whole herd of bears ringed us, i should just have to sleep! call me when it’s time for my watch, doro. ow-yow!”
and the next moment her breathing showed that she slumbered.
dorothy fell asleep herself after a time, trusting to the chill of the night air to awaken her when the fire died down.
but what really woke her up was a shrill cry that echoed through the forest in a most weird way, and startled both girls into an upright position before their eyes were even open.
again the strange cry rang out. tavia broke off in a mighty yawn and seized dorothy’s hand.
“more trouble!” she gasped.
