Exclamations of fear escaped the boys as they saw the threatening attitude of the fierce animal in the cliff cave. Hal, who had had recent experience with a similar animal—perhaps the same one—stood his ground and gazed calmly at the mountain lion. But Ferdinand and Frank were quickly panic-stricken and turned and fled into the passage. Byron hesitated a few moments; then the fright of Bad and Fes proved too much for his nerve, and he turned and followed them as fast as he could run.

It would be too much to expect even Hal to stand cool and unmoved under such discouraging circumstances. The support of even a physically weak companion would have tended to strengthen his nerve. As it was, he felt an irresistible power pulling him backward, and he, too, turned and raced after the other Boy Scouts.

He expected any moment to hear the panther come hounding after him and to be knocked over by the springing of the heavy body upon his back. In despair he wished he had not lost courage and had stood his ground, but he had no power to turn and await the approach of the animal. It was too late now. His only hope—but was there any hope at all?

Yes, there was. In the passage was the cave with the rude timber door. The other boys were just entering it. Hal reached the entrance just as Frank was swinging the door to.

Fearfully he looked behind, and saw the mountain lion entering the passage in a half hesitating manner. Doubtless he had had experience with human beings that taught him the wisdom of dealing cautiously with them. Hal stepped inside and pulled the door to; then, finding that it swung easily and fitted the entrance fully, he pushed it open again and stepped outside.

The panther had stopped twenty feet away, crouching to spring, yet hesitating as if afraid. It was rather dark in the passage and his eyes blazed like two coals of fire. Hal stood ready to spring back into the cave and pull the door to if he should spring.

“Come on in and shut the door,” pleaded Frank in trembling tones. Byron and Fred seconded the request, but Hal had good reason for doing otherwise.

If he shut himself and his companions in the cave, it would mean a long imprisonment. He would be afraid to open the door again lest he find the panther close to the entrance ready to spring in. Meanwhile Mr. Miles would return and would be unable to find them, and then the mischief would be to pay. Hal must remain outside and watch for the airship and scream for help when the aviator landed.

“No, I’m going to stay here as long as he don’t spring at me,” Hal replied. “If it’s too dark in there and you’re afraid, here’s some matches.”

He took several matches from his pocket and held them behind him. Byron stepped out gingerly and received them and hastened back into the cave. Meanwhile, Hal was measuring the distance between him and the puma and wondering if he couldn’t do something to make the big cat retreat.

“If I’d pick up one of these stones and fire it at him, I wonder what he’d do,” he mused. “Would he jump at me or would he jump back? Maybe I ought to just try to scare him and not hit him. If I hit him, it may make him mad.

“No, I guess I’ll throw one right at him. I couldn’t hit him if I tried. Nobody could hit a cat; they’re too quick.”

So he picked up a stone half as large as his fist and threw it with all his force right at the animal. The latter sprang nimbly aside and the stone bounded several yards farther on. Encouraged at the failure of the mountain lion to spring at him, Hal picked up another stone and hurled it, then another and another and another. The beast sprang aside and backward each time, snarling angrily, but hardly with an accent of courage. Hal kept up his attack with more and more vigor, and presently the animal turned and bounded out of the passage. Just as he disappeared, Hal’s three companions came rushing toward him in a manner so startling that the watcher outside chilled with a fear that the panther’s mate had been discovered inside.

They stopped at the entrance, thus reassuring Hal somewhat. But this reassurance was dispelled when he turned and saw their white faces and scared attitudes.

“What’s the matter?” he inquired, for the moment forgetting the panther.

“Oh, Hal!” gasped Frank. “There’s a man back there, and he’s dead!”

“A man! Dead!”

It was Hal’s turn to gasp.

“Yes,” replied Frank. “We lit some matches and saw him.”

“There’s a gun back there, too,” continued Fes, and Hal interrupted him eagerly.

“Is that so?” he exclaimed. “Bun, you and Bad stay here and watch, while Fes and I go and have a look. If the panther comes back, holler to me, but don’t shut the door unless he comes too close.”

With these instructions, Hal entered the cave, followed by the trembling Ferdinand. He struck a match to light his way, and held another to substitute as soon as the first should burn out. The hole in the wall was an ordinary cave, eight feet wide beyond the narrow entrance, six or seven feet from floor to ceiling, and fifteen feet deep.

At the farther end, Hal discovered evidences that the place had been used as a living room. There was no table and no chair, but he found a lantern, a pine box, a gun, some blankets and several articles of clothing. On the blankets lay the form of a man. His clothes were torn and his face was mangled. Evidently he had been attacked by some wild animal, perhaps the mountain lion. The man must have been dead for two or three days.

Realizing that no more time should be spent in this place, Hal picked up the rifle which leaned against the wall, and returned to the entrance. There he examined the weapon, which was a Winchester. He pulled down the lever, which opened the chamber and disclosed five cartridges resting in the magazine. At the same time an empty shell flew out, and as he threw back the lever a fresh cartridge slipped into its place.

“Come on, fellows,” said Hal, starting for the entrance. “If the panther comes too close, I’ll shoot ’im. But I don’t think he’ll bother us.”

The boys hastened out of the pass and into the belt of timber. Before they reached the open, they discovered the airship resting on the ground and Mr. Miles looking about him in alarm at the disappearance of the four Scouts.

“Where have you been?” he inquired as they came near. Then he added in a tone of astonishment: “And where did you get that gun?”

“We’ve had some adventure, believe me,” replied Hal, as he stopped and rested the butt of the rifle on a rock. “We’ve seen a panther and found a dead man in a cave.”

The aviator was amazed and demanded further details. The boys told their story in a picturesque manner, with many gestures and some slang. The aviator would have been glad to have made a personal investigation, but it was getting so late that he decided it best not to delay. So he said:

“We’ve got to get a move on us, or we’ll find ourselves making a trip through the air in the dark. Come on, now. Who’s going on the next trip?”

Frank and Ferdinand got aboard, and the ship again jerked and bounded over the rough ground, then arose and circled toward the school. Hal and Byron remained, with the gun for protection in case the mountain lion should appear again. But little fear was felt from that source after the experience they had had with the animal.

“I bet it’s the same panther we met over on Porcupine,” declared Byron soon after they were left alone.

“I bet it is too,” replied Hal.

In a short time after they saw the airship glide down onto the campus, it arose again, and in ten minutes it alighted on Flathead once more.

Then Hal and Byron got aboard and experienced their first thrills as aerial passengers. It was not nearly so sensational as they had expected, however. Indeed, it was hardly more thrilling than going up in an elevator, for they were shut in on all sides and could look out only through the windows, and this proved not much different from gazing out of a window of a sky-scraper in the city.