Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1852-08-12
BATH, MAINE, THURSDAY MORNING, AUGUST 70, 1882

dense thlcket OF cane, papaw and other shrubby
growth. The travellers, left Burlington in
good season to have arrived home by dark, but
unfortunately, the youth, not being practiced in
measuring his capacity for spirits, allowed
himself to indulge too freely, and was COM
PEELED to stop for several hours in consequence,
a proceeding that excited the wrath of the pa
triarch to an unlimited extent; but whether he
was most offended at the delay, or at Jeremy's
weakness, cannot at this late period be ascer-
tained. Sunset overshadowed the praries be-
fore the boy could be sufficiently aroused to
proceed on the journey. Difficulties now COM
menced in right earnest, for there was Egyp
tian darkness just as they entered the bottom
dark night when it is most wanted, and as for
the stars, though there were thousands of them
winking over that beautiful prairie landscape,
not one is sharp enough to wink papaw tree
into a cane thicket. The road was a mere
pathway, sometimes travelled by OK wagons it
Is true-not 10y such oxens nor by such wagons
as anybody ever saw except border settlers
but by oxen that can go through hardshps,
and wagons to match Our rule i'll the back
woods is the scriptural one in its most literal
interpretations where the tree falleth, there
ii shall lie, and when one blows across the
road, we quietly yield to the necessity of the
case and turn the road round it. 1t is true
that Dutchman once innovatcd upon nv Gus
tom, by cutting large tree out of the way,
but we sneered at him so much for his folly,
that he never repeated it-and ever since that
time the principle has been universally ac-
knowledged.
1t follows, therefore, that Uncle Bobby Box
and his nephew Jeremy Cossit, each nonpareils
in the way of travelling by bee line, would
nevertheless find considerable difficulty in travel
ing through Skunk river bottom in the dark :;
the more especially, as the uncle had but one
eye, and the nephew had obfuscated both of his
by getting drunk three hours before The first
catastrophe was the fall of Uncle Bobby over a
swinging grape vine, by which he broke his
gun-stock short off; the second was Hying
visit of Jeremy down sharp ravine, which
cost the loss of the jug ; the third was their
leaving the path and finding themselves COM
pletely out of their bearings-these three fol-
lowing each other in close succession, and the
last Gaping the climax of their miseries-
Out of breath at last, the elder withdrew the
cob from his keg and commenced to drown his
sorrows as rapidly as possible by getting drunk
feat he would have soon achieved had it not
been for certain sharp, ringing sound which
thrilled through the forest, and caused him sud-
denly TO drop the keg and spring to his feet
For a moment all was STILL save the loud beat
ings of two terrified hearts, and then arose
wailing sound like the voice of many mothers
crying for their lost babes, that chilled the very
blood in their veins.
Its young one that's got lost,' whispered
Jeremy, TO which his venerable guardian stern
ly replied,
Young one! it's pantherl
Another and another scream echoed through
the woods, and by their increasing loudness
gave token that the animal was rapidly ap-
preaching them.
No time was to be lost if they could escape ;
but where could they go; to flee was impossible,
one bound of the animal would settle that; to
climb was even less secure in the face of a brute
whose leap was thirty feet.
Hunt out hollow, cried the old man, and
at 1t they went. Those of our readers who
have travelled on the upper Mississippi, have
doubtless been struck with the immense size of
the larger sycamores, that range from six feet
to twenty in diameter. After they grow to a
then they furnish 20 the settlers convenient re-
ceptacles for grain, curbs for wells, and with
small trouble of saving and removing. These
cavities are usually open at the ground, and
give fine shelter to swine in the winter as well
as 10 wilder animals-if indeed wilder ami
NAL can be found in the world than an untamed
hog.
Uncle Bobby knew these things well enough
and his wits at this crisis did not forsakc him !;
so, leaving the keg, precious indeed, but not SO
precious as life, he commenced feeling around
the base of the larger trees for hole, closely
followed by the boy, who was in an alarming
state of nervous apprehension. 1t was not long
until they succeeded in the search. A syca-
more stood on the bank of small creek, that
runs into Skunk and leaning considerably over
the water. On its upper side was hole, but
| little larger than mans body, and nearly on a
level with the ground into this hole Jeremy
first introduced himself, and after him the
elder, who had taken the precaution to pro-
cure chunk of wood as barrier in case of
attack.
The few minutes spent in this way would
doubtless have been fatal in both, for the pan
ther in few mighty bounds that crushed
through the thick cane like tornado, reached
the very spot where they had stood when they
first heard its cry, but the smell Of the achiskey
caused the creature to halt, and the delay saved
them. Never did practiced drunkard inhale
the fumes of his favorlte drink with more gusto
than this unsophisticated denzen of the forest.
With long shifts that t he imprisoned pair could
distinctly hear, he inhaled the perfume again
and again, at times tapping the sides of the cask
with his tongue, then stopping to sniff at the
bnnehole with delight that would have gone
TO the heart of Tam O'Shanter and Souter
| Iobnny, had tbev heen there TO see