Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-08-18
A TERRIBLE WALK.
A Pedestrian Followed Through the Woods
by Cougar.
From the Dowagaic Monitor

"A ACuCstlAdu E".ONVe0 through the woods
by n Cougar.
From the Dowagaic Monitor.l
AS test OF nerve, the recent expe-
rience of wayfarer, travelling a wood
road near Olympia, Washington Terri
tory, was as remarkable as any on rec
ord. The man was Speculation, look
ing out wild land, and he trudged
through the forest, following the almost
unused path formed by an old road
made by pioneers in the wilderness.
His mind was devoted to one subject
the critical examination of the kind Of
trees upon the land about him, AMI of
the character of the soil, and he failed
to notice for some time a "pit-a-pat"
upon the dead leaves near him. He at
first scarcely looked down, when he felt
something rubbing against his legs
and heard slight purring sound, but
when he did look his heart came up in
mis- mouth, and cold sweat started as
suddenly as though he were suspended
by weak rope over Niagara. Pressing
itself softly against his legs. twining
about hlm as ne walked, moving its
flexible body swiftly, but with never
sound, turning up its fierce eyes with
something almost like terrible laugh
in them, was huge cougar No
chicken was this man Of the woods, but
his account OF the manner in which his
hat was raised by his hair is not to be
considered apocryphal at all, Sleek
and supple and muscular, the beast
glided about, and at intervals it would
come closer again, and press it's body
against the legs of the man, the light
touch making goose-hesh of every inch
IN his form. It was terrible expert
ence, that interview with the cougar in
the forest primeval, and it was we'll for
the man that his nerves were Of the
kind to do honor to frontier adven-
turer. Steadily pursuing his course
| with steps that would falter a little oc-
casionally, he kept on, and with him the
beast continued it's treacherous gambols.
At times it would glide few PAGES to
the front, and ron over and over
in the road, and wait for the man to come
up. and then it would circle around
him again until the impulse, almost too
strong to be resisted, would come upon
him to spring upon the brute, opposing
fists to fangs, and ending the intolera-
BILE suspense. The movements Of the
terrible animal were but as the playing
of cat with mouse, and the man
knew it. The moment came at length,
when the strain could be borne no
longer, and the man kicked desperately
at the beast as it passed by him. In an
instant it bounded in front and crouched
for spring, growing hoarsely and
showing it's teeth. The man stopped
and shouted hopelessly for aid, while
the cougar did not spring at once, but
appeared waiting to crafty it's humor
little longer. The shout, fortunately,
was not in vain.
| There were hunters and dogs in the
immediate vicinity, as rare fortune
would have it, and the hounds dashed
suddenly from the covert as the cougar,
seeing them, leaped for tree. A few
moments later the beast fell victim to
bullets, and the man with whom it had
taken stroll was telling his story and
trying to restore the normal condition
of his nerves by internal applications
from small flask. It was one of the
episodes which turn mems hair gray
one which would, doubtless, have
brought death to man with less nerve
than the hero of the affair.