As it was, he trotted on through a skirting of shrubbery and on the verge of a clearing was stopped by a snarl that rolled out of the ground at his feet.

Then he saw a dead deer on the ground and over it a great tawny creature.

One paw lay on the flank of its prey; the bloody muzzle was just above.
There is no greater coward than the puma.

Ordinarily she would have hesitated before attacking the grown horse, but the surprise made her desperate.

She sprang even as Alcatraz whirled for flight, and in whirling he saw that there was no escape from the leap of this monster with the yawning teeth.