Rufus (Caxton Classics)

RUFUS is a wildlife story laid in the Rocky Mountains of the West. It is the story of a young bobcat and his struggle to survive in the wilderness.

The reader first meets Rufus as a lone, wandering youngster who has just left his mother and now has to depend upon himself for food and shelter. Now that he is out on his own, Rufus begins living his life the only way he knows how, by hunting. He stakes out a territory and becomes a skillful hunter, preferring to make his meals of brush rabbits and fat mice. Rufus, like all other wild animals is forced to obey the laws of the wild that decree that the strong shall survive to maintain the balance of nature.

As Rufus grows and matures he has number of exciting adventures including an encounter with a party of hunters and a pack of hounds, a flash flood, the raiding of a sheep camp, an avalanche, a struggle with a porcupine, a narrow excape from a pack of hungry gray wolves, and the search for a mate.

Eventually Rufus finds a mate and settles down to the responsibilities of a family. He now must find food for more than just himself. Feeding a family becomes a real struggle as times become difficult when a rabbit plague occurs and forces the bobcat family to exist at the starvation level.

Throughout this thrilling story, Mr. Montgomery's observations and descriptions paint an interesting and accurate picture of the habits and traits of a bobcat and his family. RUFUS is a book to be read and enjoyed by nature lovers of all ages.

Rutherford G. Montgomery is one of the most widely read and best-loved nature writers in America. He wrote well over a hundred books. Many of his titles, such as CARCAJOU, YELLOW EYES, GRAY WOLF, MIDNIGHT, KILDEE HOUSE, and his GOLDEN STALLION Series are now regarded as classics. His first Caxton book was CARCAJOU, a Junior Literary Guild selection published in 1936.

Many of Montgomery's stories have been made into movie and TV shows by Walt Disney Productions.

Mr. Montgomery spent his boyhood on ranches in North Dakota and Montana. At college he studied law, history, and English; and when the first World War broke out he enlisted as a machine gunner in the United States Army Air Corps and spent a year and a half in the service.