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82 THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON |
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him running towards us, holding a dead animal of uncommon beauty by the paws.
' Father, father, look, here is a tiger-cat,' said he, proudly raising it in the air to show it to the best advantage.
I congratulated him on having rid the world of a beast that would have made short work of our fowls.
'I saw it creeping along a branch,' he said, ' and fired at it; it fell to the ground furious and snarling, then I finished it off with another shot.'
' You were lucky to get off so easily,' I said. ' I recognise the creature very well—it is a kind of wild cat called the margay, and though it is so small, it is very savage, and might easily have wounded you dangerously.'
' Its eyes glared fiercely,' he remarked. ' Look at its lovely skin, all black and gold ! May I make a belt of it ?'
I agreed readily, and after this I had no peace until I had shown him how to flay the animal in the best way, which I did by hanging up the porcupine to the bough of a tree and skinning it, while Fritz watched me intently, and afterwards applied the same method to his wild cat. I then cut off part of the flesh of the porcupine to be roasted, and |
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