St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1873-10-10
Chased by Lynxes.


eighteen miles. the country is almost
an unhroken wilderness. Here bears
are not umfrequently seen. sitting up in
the bushes beside the track. staring
wonderingly at the passing trains: and
deer and lynXes often bound across the
rails III front of the locomotive. So
plenty, indeed. were these latter AMI
mails. few winters since. that dr,r,s
of them, ten and Il dozen together. Nrr,
repeatedly seen on the track.
: / max" iiI,- more especial mention OF
/ this circumstance from the fact that
naturalstS have always described the
| Northern lynx us a sly and. withal, Il
very rare animal, found only in the
| depths of the forests. The following
! incident seems to me well worth place
in natural history. Even our cautious
/ Prof. Baird may rest assured of its en-
| tire reliability.
Quite late i'll autumn. hut before the
| first fall of SHOW. one of the railroad en-
ploves. Il Young fellow named Finlock,
having stopped from an up train at II
little wood station near the boundary
line. started to walk back on the track
to Island Pond. the distance being eight
or ten miles. Ii was after five O'Clock
before he set of from the wood station.
and at this season of the wear il soon
grew dusk. \ hank cloud had
risen in the south. and cold. dim
haze made the late autumn evening
dOuhly drcaly.
He had proceeded three or four miles
when he began to hear Il Swapping of
twigS Oft in the thickcts on the west
side of the track. Fimlock WAS dis
turhcd hy the >omd. and east anxious
Glamcc> into the shadows aS he hurried
forward. Some animal ua~ following
him. but wa> keeping ont of sight i'll
the iirs. Ugly fancie> kept coming int"
his mind. The place bad an i'll name.
An Indian devil (FcHs concoIor) was
said to prnwl here.
Thus he went ON. half walking. half
running. for hundred rods OF over.
and still the cracking of brush kept
fully abreast of him. only few yards
of in the bush
At last. finding that the creature.
whatever it was. could not he outrIn.
he stopped III sheer desperation. I'm
mcdiatcly the cracking stopped. and
hc fancird hc could see Il pair of fiery
green eyes of in the shadow. He
shouted at it III yIutl' tones. Still the
eyes glarcd steadily. Then. fumhling
along between the ties of the railroad
track, he found Il piece of iron. lctt 10y
+ the section men. and flung it with all
his might in the direction of his purSu-
CT. Instantly there WAS IA jump aside.
Il spit. and long, hidcous sound. the
/ peculiar. wild Nawl of the lynx,
1t made poor Finlock uemblc with
fear. standing there in the dark. Mo
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frightfully: and whenever he stole Il
glance backward. hc could see half Il
dozen lu>ky forms leapimg on the track
hchimd and could hear the partcr of
furry feet on the ties. More than tWcn-
ty. hr thinks. were thus following him
Terror lent him speed. He ran with
dccllikc Swittmc>S for another mile Bnt
50 far from getting away from them.
they we've every moment gathering clos