"They are bad beasts to fool with," said Nikol. "My brother had both
eyes scratched out in an encounter with a single wildcat. And you
killed three."

"There wasn't much chance of your eyes being scratched out, was there,
Mr. Stubbs?" said Chester.

"And why not?" demanded the little man,

"Come now, Mr. Stubbs," said Chester, "you don't mean to tell me you have
forgotten you were lying flat on your face dodging bullets when the cats
jumped you."

"No, I hadn't forgotten," said Stubbs in an injured tone. "But was it my
fault that I had stumbled over a stone in the darkness a moment before?"

"Well, no, possibly not," Chester admitted. "But it's funny you didn't
think to mention that stone at the time."

"If you are determined to laugh at me," said Stubbs with an air of
ruffled dignity, "I have nothing more to say. Any man is likely to fall."

"So he is, Mr. Stubbs," agreed Chester, "and I don't know but I'd fall
myself if I saw three wildcats coming for me. Yes, I would, and I'd try
to get my head just as deep in the ground as possible, like an ostrich,
and then maybe they couldn't see me."

For a moment Mr. Stubbs glared at the lad angrily and seemed about to
speak; then turned on his heel angrily and strode to the far side of the