Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1855-08-09
FSste Fayetteville OBSERVE.
"Reminiscences Of Travel,
NUMBER YHiRTKEN

HaTing recruited our camp fire,
which blazed Justify before our capa-
,ious tent, we retired for the night
The wolves were how.ing at a distance
in the wide forest, and their doleflI
music hid a Singular effect upon our
friend, Mr.. White. lie dnla't like
thenllsic at all, and was determined
to stow himself away in a back cor
ner Of the tent, where he thought he
would be out of danger. But We alb
persuaded him that wolf was more
afraid Of fire than anything else; SO
he agreed to take a berth at the
mouth Of the tent. We told him that
if the fire burnt down during the
night he must get up and recruit it,
and then there would be 10 danger.
We all were wearied and sleepy, and
soon gave up to the sweet influence
of Morpheus, and soon found our
selves in the land of dreams. Some
dreamed Of home and friends; anoth-
er, by an occasional struggle and NUT
tering, was in a bear fight or among
alligators or a nest of snakes. As
for myself | was dreaming about
home-alnidst happy greetings, smi-
ling faces, and a multitude of kind
friends who rejoiced with me On my
return from those wild, uninhabited
regions. Thus things went on, hHaH
of sudden We were all aroused by
the cry of wolf! wolf! wolf! and be-
fore we had time to be half awake,
our skin and short ribs had suffered
immensely by Whites stumbling and
tramping over US, trying to get to the
back end of the tent. He declared
that one came up and 'smalIed him in
the face and frightened him almost
ont of his wits. We got up and
started fresh Mass and thtn laid
down agaiil-telling White That if he
dared tread on our shins and bread
baskets again in SO unc r-monious a
manner, that We would tie bim- 10 a
tree and let the wolves eat him sure
enough. Next morning our mules
were ont and gone like 'Rr1nger's
eye and there We were about as hap
py as a bug in tar-bueket. But no
time was to be lest; the boys scat
tered out and ransacked the swamps,
banks, and prairies until about ten
O clock, when, TO our great JOY, up
came White and his mules. So W.
decAmped on short notice and we're
found making tracks towards home IS
fast as the nature of the case would
admit. We trudged along through
the deep sand and vide forests until
about three in the evening, without
seeing anything worthy of note ex-
cept occasionally a deer or turkey
About three o'clock, had taken the
pony and rode. on briskiy to head a.
deer for Graham, who was scouting to
the right. / suppose / was about
two miles ahead Of the wagon. As /
rode leisurely along I noticed some.
thing Of considerable size creeping
through the grass. some distance be-
fore me. 1t seemed to be crawling
close to the ground, and the thought
struckm that it was panther, trying
TO steal a march on me; sol stopped
to watch its movements. 1t soon
emerged from the tail grass into an
open piac and turned out a kage7a1-s
Tgatcr, about twelve feet long. Hei
seemed to be travelling in search of
a better watering place, and was en-
Iirely ignorant OF an enemy so near.
looked around and saw that there
were no ponds near, and that there
vas not much chance for him to es-
ape. Thinks / to myself, old feIJer, .
vel have some fun out of you before
you leave these diggiugs. So I slid
,ff my pony and gathered a pine-pole,
which happened to lie near, and pre-
ented myself in battle array. AS
'oon as he discovered me, he squatted
n the grass and eyed me with Gu
iosity, mingled with contempt. He
ssumed a pugnaeeous attitude. and
eemed to banter me for an engage
nent, i acknowledge l didn't ike
lis looks very much, and as [ never
'ad seen one On dry land before, and
Iidn't know how fast he could run. l
ooked about to see which way / would
un, provided he should charge on
ne. My pine pole was rather rotten {
nd l didn't know whether it would