The next morning I awoke hungrier than ever, even than that time when some mean kids chased me through half the neighborhood and I had to climb a brick wall to get away. Anyway I climbed slowly downwards and began searching for any thing edible. Luckily, I found a shrew's nest and removed it of its occupant but the darn thing got away. At last I found the carcass of a dead bird that had fallen out of its nest and made short work of it.
       I was still ravenous but only moderately so, so I plodded on along the rocky beach. A hundred feet later I realized at last the size of that lake. It was probably a couple of miles in diameter. A guess on my location popped up in my head but I ignored it until a little further along I spotted a sign. It said: "N-a-t-u-r-e R-e-s-e-r-v-e-: B-e-a-v-e-r-'-s D-a-m". Of course, I'm not a great reader in human but I had met this word before. So my guess was correct! That was not good, not good at all.
I walked on. It was very boring, the sun had almost reached its summit and everything was siesta-ing, even the restless flies calmed down. Suddenly I stepped on something warm, it squealed wildly and lashed out with its legs. I jumped off and turned to see the thing (whatever it was) but I didn't get a chance for my attention was immediately riveted to the mother of the "thing": a gigantic, angry and, unfortunately, well-toothed beaver. It had probably been taking its child out for a walk when I had juggernauted in. It was furious and, luckily, slow. I was already twenty feet away when at last it reached the place where I stood.
      When I stopped running twenty minutes later I sensed a familiar smell: Homo sapiens! The telltale signs were all there. Cola cans, cigarette butts, a tin much like a Whiskas can that promised "all-natural flavor", a white tube that declared "Colgate" and showed the picture of a scowling human with extraordinarily white teeth. I have always wondered about the use of this. Maybe it is some sort of drink.
       Anyway, humans were near. In fact several minutes later I encountered one. It was quite surprised to see me for it was one of my own!

      I went down to the pond into which I had recently fallen and lounged around making ineffective swipes at newts and frogs and occasionally grabbing an unlucky grasshopper. Soon I got bored and decided to go and explore. I started up the hill under which the summer house was placed. Soon I became thirsty and as luck would have it I came out to a small spring. It was under a rock overhang that had a perculiar yellow vine hanging from. As I knealt down to lap at the water I suddenly understood what that "vine" was. I had seen a picture of one in a some kind of book called "Field Guide to the Reptiles of the USA". A quick glance upwards confirmed my doubts. A ratsnake was staring me straight in the face!
 
 

      I know it's called a ratsnake but the thing is one of them can take down a wild cat and this ratsnake was particularly large...and I am no wild cat. Luckily the thing isn't poisonous, it's a constrictor but the only difference this makes is in time. Also the thing is darn fast.
      I ran anyway. The rugged terrain didn't help me one bit, on the contrary it hurt my paws and had a habit of being treacherously loose. The snake slithered rapidly and smoothly after me, not the slightest bit hindered. As I looked back I fully contemplated the enormous size of the thing: it was over seven feet long!
      Suddenly my front leg found nothing to land on but it was too late, my momentum forced over the edge of - as I later discovered - a well. Fortunately my cat reflexes reacted immediately and in the next moment I was standing safely on the muddy and uncomfortably damp bottom of a well. Hundreds of years before the bottom had probably been several dozen feet deeper but time had taken its toll and eventually the depth was reduced to only nine or ten feet. Nevertheless it was too high for me to jump.
      The snake had started slithering down the well wall. There was no way out. I hissed. It hissed, then it lunged.