Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-03-26


irot around me in circle, their eyes
glaring upon me as if they could hardly
restrain their appetite for my blood. l
mad never seen them in such numbers,
never so bold as they were that night;
and as my fire burned TO bed of Goals,
and the circle gradually grew smaller, /
Ielt that sooner or later / must be de-
voured unless some unforeseen Providence
interviewed.
had just emptied my rife amongst
them and was reloading as rapidly as pos
sible, when new actor appeared upon
| the scene.
The wolves suddenly turned up their
noses, and then, as with common consent,
all darted away into the gloom, some of
them passing very close to me in their
attempt to escape; and full grown pam
Their sprang into the freight, and, landing
within ten feet of where l stood, he
paused for a moment to gather himself
for spring upon me.
| had 10 time for thought or action.
My gun was but half loaded; and in
stinctiyely grasped my knife and drew it
from the sheath, as with low, vengeful,
horrid growl the monster sprang upon
me. darted quickly 10 one side, throw
ing up my left arm as did so, holding
my knife in my right; and as he came
down his left paw struck my shoulder, his
| claws sinking deep into the flesh, whilst
he seized my arm between his teeth,
almost crushing it.
My right hand being free, my knife
instantly sank to the hilt in his side. We
rolled together on the ground, and des-
| perate struggle for life ensued. l manag-
ed to keep my right arm free, and gave
him several telling plunges with my knife;
| while the monster still retained his hold
| of my left arm, while his claws tore and
rent my clothes and flesh in the most hor-
rid manner. felt my strength fast leav-
ing me, while struggled with the desper-
ate energy of man who feels that his
| life depends upon his own exertions.
| As my own strength failed however, l
had the satisfaction of klOwing that the
strength of my antagonist was also failing.
| We had rolled over and over in our strug-
| gle until the bed of the stream received
us, and here we wallowed in mud and
wster, the latter not being deep enough
for drowning; Suddenly felt his hold
upon my arm beginning to relax, and II
sing with one superhuman effort, plung-
| ed my knife to the hilt in his heart. He
sprang TO his feet with savage growl,
letting me 90 entirely; but the next mo-
ment he fell and quivered in the agonies
| of death. This was the last | knew; T
sank senseless in the bed of the stream.
When awoke all was inky darkness,
1 nj Ia -, a.
rents. For moment l was bewildered
and did not know where | was or what
had happened; but when attempted to
| move, the acute pain In my arm and lac
Grated flesh brought to mind the late terri
BILE struggle. was lying in the stream,
and my clothes were completely saturated
with water; and this, with the rain pour
ing down in my face, had revived me to
| state of consciousness. | attempted to
rise but fell back weak and faint from
the loss of blood and the pain it gave me
The wolves were once more bowling
around; and | could already hear them
| tearing the flesh from the bones of the
dead antelope. The blood was still flow
ing from my arm, and had no means of
| preveniin9it. l felt my time had indeed
come, and l mentally raised prayer
to heaven that it might come before /
should be devoured alive by those horrid
wolves
The rain ceased, and the daylight was
approaching, as l could just begin to see
the dim outlines of the wolves as they
ought over the carcass of the dead ante
Epe; and / saw beside me, dimly in the
faint light, the form of the lifeless pan
ther.
Soon they finished their repast, leaving
nothing but bones, and began to approach
the spot where | lay. There was but few
of them, however, and these, having
feasted upon the antelope, were not so
ferocious as those of the night before,
though still ferociOus enough, knew, to
devour me instantly. | endeavored to
raise myself up once more as they came
very near; and seeing signs of life, they
drew back a little and seemed to hesitate.
l mansged-though not without the most
acute pain-tO crawl few feet back and
place my back against the bank of the
stream where it was four OF five feet in
perpendicular height; and grasping my
knife in my right hand, l thus awaited
their approach, determined to sell my life
as dearly as possible.
They began enciIculing around me, oc5
casionslly sitting down upon their haun-
ches to watch me as cat would watch
wounded mouse, walking along the on
the bank directly over me, and looking
down and swapping their teeth within
few inches of my head, and expected
every moment they would leap off upon
me.
The sun had fully risen, when one
more bold than the rest sprang upon the
dead panther and commenced tearing out
the flesh. felt my blood curdle in my
veins IS saw his hOrrid teeth setting in
to the dead animal, knowing how soon /
was to undergo the same operation.
The time had come. One of the larg-
est and most Notwithstanding of the
pack could stand it no longer; and growl-
ing and showing his chattering teeth in a
horrid grin, he squatted with the inten-
ton of jumping upon me. l made an
attempt to raise my knife to defend my
self, but was too weak; itfell powerless at
my side, and l closed my eyes to meet my
fate; when a sharp crack of a rifle rang
out upon the morning air, and the savage
brute rolled over in the agonies of death,
while the rest took to their heels. | was
saved!
1t was one of my companions, John
Gaver, who had arrived just in time to
| save me from horrible death. He, too,
had been out hunting the day before, and
camped short distance below me. In a
rough way he dressed my wounds, and
was kindly cared for; but it was three
weeks before l could walk. My arm
healed, but never fully recovered the use
of it. and its SCARED appearance will al
ways remind me of that terrible encoun-
ter with the Rocky Mountain lion.
CLAW OF FILTRATION"
Young men given to fIrtation, who do
not desire to get themselves into trouble
in the way of breach of promise suits,
had better be on the lookout, and guard
well their conduct in the future, if they
would keep free from the rigid application
of thelsws of evidence The claw of fir
tation," as recently laid down by certain
judges, is of a nature to give pause TO
the frolicsome and sentimental tendencies
of the times. Chief Justice Parker of
Massachusetts auDouOcpa the ODiniOu of