He motioned for the others to come up, and in a few seconds all were ready to take pictures.  The background was perfect, and they felt this would be one of the finest subjects yet obtained.

Hardly daring to breathe, one after another of the boys clicked the shutter of his camera and the negatives were taken.  Then they swung their cameras back and brought forward their shotguns.

As they did this one of the wildcats suddenly opened its eyes and looked around.  On the instant it let out a cry of rage and its back commenced to bristle.  Then the other wildcat leaped from the tree to the ground and crouched as if for a spring.

“Fire!” came the command from the doctor’s son, but this was not necessary, for both Snap and Whopper blazed away as quickly as they could.  The wildcat on the tree was hit and fell over into the pool with a loud splash.  The other wildcat made a leap for Snap and hit him in the shoulder.

“Shoot him! shoot him!” yelled Snap in terror, and did what he could to keep the beast from reaching his breast and throat.

“Can’t shoot—–­might hit you!” answered the doctor’s son, but then he came up on the side and blazed away at close quarters, hitting the wildcat in the left hind leg.  This caused the animal to drop to the ground, where it twisted and turned so quickly that the eyes of the young hunters could scarcely follow it.

The other wildcat had by this time climbed out of the pool.  It gave itself a vigorous shake and turned as if to limp away.  But then it espied its mate and stopped, as if calculating on what to do next.

“Shoot ’em!” sang out Whopper, and discharged his gun a second time.  He hit the second wildcat in the back, but the wounds were not serious and the beast still thrashed around, snapping and snarling in a fashion that would have frightened any hunter.

The shot from the gun awakened the fury of the first wildcat, and crouching low it came toward Whopper step by step, its two eyes glowing like tiny electric lights.  Whopper tried to run, but he was fascinated by the sight and too much overcome to move a step.

“Look out, Whopper!” screamed Snap, and then he raised his own gun to take another shot.  But the hammer merely clicked.  He tried it again, in increased haste, and as a consequence shot wild, the charge going over the wildcat’s head.

Then the wildcat made a leap, striking Whopper and hurling him over backward.  As he went down the second wildcat lurched itself forward, and in a twinkling both were on the young hunter, snapping and snarling as though about to eat him up!

CHAPTER XIX

SOME UNLOOKED-FOR GAME

It was a moment of dire peril and no one realized it more than did the young hunter who had been attacked by the two wild beasts of the forest.  Like a flash he rolled over and doubled up to prevent the wildcats from reaching his head and neck.