Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1854-03-22
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, WEDNESDAY,


mare dancing all over the ground, as if Old
Nick himself had got among them. None
Of them, however, thought of taking to the
water. They had all had enough Of that,
guess. kept rather near, so as not to land
nigh to the panther and then touching
bottom, I climbed quietly up on the mound.
had hardly drawn my dripping carcass out
Of the water, when I heard loud squea,
which knew to be the whine of my old
mare and just at that minute, the creature
came running up, and rubbed her nose
against my shoulder. took the halter in
my hand, and siding round little, I jumped
upon her back, for still was in fear of the
panther; and the mares back appeared to
me the safest place about; and that was mt
very safe, | imagine.
Istiow looked all round to see what new
company had got into. The day was just
breaking, and could distinguish little bet
ter every minute. The top Of the mound,
which was above water, was not over half
an acre in size, and it was as clear from tim
Der as any other part of the prairie; so that
| could see every inch Of it, and everything
on it as big as beedle-bug. | suppose
stranger, that you will hardly believe me
when tell you the concatenation of vermin
that was then and there congregated togeth-
er, l could hardly believe my own eyes
when beheld such gathering, and 5hought
| had got aboard of Noahs Ark. There
was-listen nstranger-frst, my old mare and
myself, and [ wished both of US anywhere
else at the time-then there was the panth-
er, your old acquaintance-th there were
four deer, buck and three does. Then
came a catamount and after him bis.ek
bear. almost as large as buffalo. Then
there was racoon, an opposum and couple
of grey wolves, and swamp rabbit, and
darn the thing.-a sinking skunk. Per
haps the latter was not the most dangerous
vermin on the ground, but it certainly was
the most disagreeabe of the whole lot tor it
smelt only as an accursed polecat can smell.
1 have said, stranger, that was nightly
taken by surprise when I first saw this curl
Gus clanjamfrey' Of creatures; but I can tell
you | was still more dumfoundered when |
saw their4behavior to one another, knowing
their different natures as I did. There was
the panther lying up close to the deer-its
natural prey and there were the wolves
too; and there was the catamount, standing
within three feet of the opossum and the
swamp rabbit; and there were the bear and
the cunning old coon; and there they all
were, no more minding one another than if
they had spent all their days together in the
same den. 1t was the oldest sight ever
beheld; and it reminded me of bit of Scrip
ture my old mother had often read from a
book called the Bible, or some such name
xsss4ssE- Ifssz2sas..s
squat down beside lamb, without laying
a claw upon the innocent creature. Well,
stranger as | was saying, the whole party
behaved in this very way. They all appear.
ed down in the mouth, and badly scared
about the water; but for all that, had my
fears that the panther or the bear-I was nj
afraid of any of the others-might get ovel
their fright after the flood felr; and therefore
I kept as quiet as any one of them during
the whole time was in their company, ant
staying all the time close by the mare. Blu
neither bear nor panther showed any savag
propensity the whole of next day and nigh
that followed it.
YOU all the movements that took plac
among these creatures during that long da
and night. Never one of them laid toot
or claw on the other. [ was hungry enoug
myself, and would have liked to have take
steak from the buttocks of one of the dee
but I dared not doit I was afraid to brea
the peace, which might have led to gene
al shindy.' When day broke next NOR
ING after, I saw that the food was fast ia
ing; and as soon as it was shallow enough,
led my mare quietly into the water, al
climbing upon her back took a silent leave
my companions. The water still took n
3 mare up to the fanks, SO that I knew no
of the vermin could follow without swimmin
G and not ore seemed inclined to try swir
: I struck direct for my neighbor's shan
|, which could see about three miles off; a
in an hour or so, was at his door. The
y did not stay long, but borrowing an ext
!, gun, which he happened to have, and taxi
1t him along with his own rifle, waded |
e mare back to the island.
We found the game not exactly as |
: left it. The fall Of the flood had given
u panther, the cat and the wolves courage.
re swamp rabbit and the op2ossum were &C
W pIetely gone, all but bits oftheir woodland
of the does was better than half devoured
= NV neighbor took one side, and l the otf
> and riding close up we surrounded the isla
70 plugged the panther at the first shot,
he did the same for the bear. We next
out the wolves, and, after shat, 'cooney,'
N' then we took our time about the deer-tt
ut latter and the bear being the only valuf
| things on the island. The skunk we XII
er last, as we did not want the thing to stink
NJ off the place while we were skinning the d
nj After killing the skunk we mounted and
of course loaded with our bearmeat and Y
son. got my riAeafter all. When the fl
od went down, found it near the middle of
"a. prairie, half buried in the slough.
10, Il saw had built my shanty in the WI
,us place but soon locked out for better
let ton, and put up another. | had all read!
a, the spring, when went back to Mississ
nj and brought out Mary and thetwo young o.
- Thus ended the squat!er's story.
st
&c, A MELANCHOLY END.-A few years
er. and Ovid F. johnson, Esq, brother of
rel Gov. johnson, of Pa, and the able Alto
i'm General of that State, stood among the