Steadily She Probed His Face, and Slowly She Nodded Steadily She Probed His Face, and Slowly She Nodded Cat O’ Mountain BY ARTHUR O. FRIEL Author of “King—of Kearsarge” ARTHUR O. FRIEL Illustrated by DONALD S. HUMPHREYS DONALD S. HUMPHREYS THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY PHILADELPHIA 1923 THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY PHILADELPHIA 1923 COPYRIGHT 1923 BY THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY Cat o’ Mountain Made in the U. S. A. To JAMES and CAROLINE MACK whose unfailing kindliness to the mysterious prowler of The Traps will long be remembered by “The Detective” [5] FOREWORD At the northern end of the Shawangunk range lies a region where the Maker of Mountains went mad. At Into his new-laid rock the giant crashed his huge hammer, smashing asunder his handiwork, gouging out chasms, splitting it into fissure and cavern and abyss, slashing its eastern edge into a frowning precipice. When he had gone, up into some of his hammer-scars welled subterranean waters, forming crag-bound lakes hundreds of feet higher than the rugged valley floor. Other chasms became gulfs of verdure, crammed with a veritable jungle of hardwoods and evergreens. And there, in the labyrinth of tree