The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1872-03-10
LEfcoLUMN.
a cALIFoRMIAl LION STORY.

| A CALIFORNIA LION STORY.
We used to live on ranch in California.
| But first must tell zen whom I mean by
"we.n No matter aboht our last name. ]
was called Harry 8 called my father GA
ther," and my mother Mother" exactly
other members Of our. family were Pedro,
Mexican boy, and last Of all, (" Shot,n NV
big dog. Shot did not. belong to any par
| ticular breed, but rather to six or seven ;
he was, in fact, q noble specimen Of the
pure cur. I can best describe him BY say.
ing that bis coat was shaggy and rough,
and of pale, dirty yellow, and his size
immense. Bat if dogs have hearts, Shot
had one in proportion to his size, with lots
Of pluck and affection in it. He was not
one of your city ours, nor one bit of thief
or coward, as you will believe before
get through my story.
what a "ranchn is. It is lonely kind o of a
farm, without any fences, and with NO
neighbors within twenty or thirty miles.
Isn't that the place for funf You had bet
ter believe! We bad a small vegetable
garden near the house, which kept the Iii :
chen in supplies. but the chief business of
more than hundred cows, horses and
oxen, and nearly two Thousand sheep. q :
Pedro and used to take tuiDa Watching
the sheep. The other cattle, except q few
ponies which We used to ride, I'VE never
walked much y were left to run wild. The
sheep pasture wac ia = little valley, with q
pond in the centre Of it, about three miles
from our house. We built small shed to
cover Ne when it rained or when a heavy
dew fell. We had warm pile of sheep
skins, and tue one who was left there all
night passed it quite comfortably. For
weapons We had q revolver and an army
rife, which carried any kind of ball or shot.
a yxySa fircf 3Npev tSN 30 ~
the deer were still in the habit of coming
to drink in the pond, and killed two Of
them before the rest of them took the alarm
and stopped coming.
o, l could make you city boys cry
for a weeks sport at this place! Quaiis
and rabbits were thick as flies, and in the
streams which fed the pond caught in one
day twenty pounds of trout. There was
other game, however, which was not SO
pleasant. Bears sometimes wandered down
from the mountains, and the "California
lion," long. lank, yellow panther, some-
times got hungry and called upon our
walked ont Of = doze by the wolves, or coy
otes, as We call them. The latter, how
ever, were sadly afraid of old Shot, who
had killed three or four of them, and en-
joyed it very much.
OF late, however, several lambs had dis
appeared. Pedro declared that he would
AOV oS0y uAOuV Az tu0t WIN pl6C0s TaCucE
told me to hang up some skins, 80 90 to
keep out tie wind, and mako up comfort
able bed in the hut. One of us then could
sleep while the other watched, and one
could ride up to the house every day for
provisions and bread. We were furnished
with pot in which to boil the dried meat
into stews and soup, and kettle for max
ing coffee.
Between You ADD nae, this was just what
we wanted, and if we did not have q good
time, nobody ever did. Shortly after this
arrangement was made, was awakened by
Pedro, who was on the watch. There was
a great disturbance among the sheep.
"Where's Shetf Here, doggy !"
We rushed, all three, to a spot where we
could get some control over the flock, and
soon, by the help of Shot, managed to re-
store good arder. Pedro maintained that
he had seen some kind of wild animal, at
one time when he had looded back toward
our shed. l did not believe him, however,
and laughed as we retraced our steps. But
as stopped to enter, pair of flaming yell
low eyes met mine, and leaped back with
fright as l observed huge panther, or
California lion. stretched upon our bed, as
if for spring. In an instant was several
steps from the open door, and Pedro and
Shot and stood facing the wild beast, just
beyond his reach. Pedro was very pale,
and Shot evidently thought that there was
something larger than u wolf behind those
glaring eyes. The gun and the pistol were
lying at the head of our bed probably our
visitor was resting on them.
What's to be done, Pedro"
Pedro made the sign of the cross as he
finished a little prayer. "Me go back
maybe can catch gum" Then he left me,
and soon appeared behind the hut, and be-
gan feeling with his hand under the bottom
edge of its walls. 1 had drawn my knife,
and stood, with Shot, staring at the in
truder from a distance. He could see me
plainly, and gave me all his attention.
Finally, by scratching and digging, Pedro
got his hand through and reached the stock
Of the gun. saw the great catlike face
turn backwards with sudden snarl, then
it faced me, and seemed to move. A long,
snaky thing bounded from the door, and
touched the ground about halfway to me.
The next instant a terrific blow on the
chest knocked me heels over head. 1 made
a wild plunge with my knife and shouted
there was scream from the panther, q
fierce growl from the dog, and all three of
us were rolling in a heap and crashing
through a clump of bushes. The two ami
mails passed over and left me half stunned