Page:Redcoat (1927).djvu/123

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the rabbit path. He had been waiting for a long time, and to see Redcoat chasing the rabbit he had hoped to get filled him with uncontrollable rage. He dug his claws into the bark on the log in a frenzy of fury, and as the rabbit scuttled by the wildcat crouched to spring, but not at the fleeing rabbit. Redcoat discovered him as he came hurtling through the air, else this hunt would have been his last. He did not have time to jump aside but simply dropped in the snow and the cat passed over him, just raking his back with his long needle like claws. Before he had time to recover Redcoat had sprung to one side and the cat's next jump missed him. In a fair run the bobcat was no match for him, so he soon left him far behind. But, it was a close call and it filled the Red Hunter with unspeakable rage, to think that his rabbit swamp had been invaded by this ugly old cat and that he had had to run in this unceremonious way for his life made Redcoat so angry that the hair on his back and neck bristled for hours whenever he thought of it.