Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1876-11-09
Saved by a Panther.

One bright, sunshiny morning, In
the month Of September, / threw my
rifle over my shoulder. and started off
among the mountains on a tramp i'm
search OF game. There was not a
cloud in the sky, and everything be-
tokened as nice day as any one
bound on a similar errand could
wish. tfHi..4tt
BY the time reached the summit
of the mountains / found the day that
had promised so fair in the morning
gave evidence of deceiving me. The
wind had shifted round to the south
east, and dark clouds had already be-
gun to arise in the heavens, indica-
ing gathering storm. On the sum-
NIT 1 stopped a moment to gain
breath, and, while thus resting, L ar
rived at the conclusion that the
storm would not begin before some
time in the night, and that 1 should
have a decent day after all.
Iplunged / down the opposite side
of the mountain; and then came the
result Of my days labor, in the shape
Of game Of every kind in which the
forest abounded. had never seen 1t 80
plentiful before; and, in the course OF
couple Of hours. / had secured as
much as it was possible for me to
carry homo. SO busy was / in the
sport that always so much enjoyed,
/ did not notice that it was rapidly
becoming dark, although it was not
more than the middle of the after
noon. / glanced up at the sky
through the branches of the trees, and
found that it was covered with dark,
heavy clouds, that had the appear
ance OF being ready any moment TO
send down flood of rain upon the
earth. Hastily packing together the
trophies Of the days exploit, swung
them upon my back, and started on
my way homeward.
But had not gone quite third of
the way from the foot of the noun
tain to its summit when the rain
came down, a few drops at first, and
then faster and thicker, until at last
It descended in torrents, as If second
deluge had set in to again drown the
earth. Added to this, it grew darker
every moment; and / knew that In a
very short time all around would be-
as black as midnight, and that it
would be next to impossible for mo
to pick my way homewsrd; conse-
quently, but one course remained for
me TO pursue; and that was to give
up all thoughts OF reaching home that
night, and to find some shelter from
the storm as quickly as possible.
1 had got up to a point beyond the
trees, among the bare rocks and
sands, that now reached all the way
before me to the summit OF the moun-
tain, and knew that there was no
shelter before me, unless it was
among the rocks, where a cave might
be found. i turned about, and was
descending the mountains in a some
what different direction from that by
which had assembled, when 1 came
upon the very spot wished to find
a small cave among the rocks. with
an aperture sufficiently large to ad-
nit OF my entering, though not in an
upright position, as the entrance was
not more than four feet in height
I at once entered the cave, and
found that it extended into the noun
tain perhaps twenty feet, and that the
interior was nice and dry. Here L
had room sufficiently high for me to
stand upright, and about ten feet in
width by fifteen in length; and bet
ter quarters for the night could not
ask for. My stock OF game would
furnish me with plenty to eat, and 1
knew how to cook 1t daintily.
The rain came down in torrents
without. But now it was nothing to
me. was snug and dry. In a short
time / selected the softest place 1
could find in the sand that covered
the bottom OF the cave, and soon was
fast asleep.
had been asleep I don't know how
long, when 1 was awakened by a
sound that could not have failed to
arouse the soundest sleeper that ever
slept The ground upon which 1 was
lying was trembling as though moved
by an earthquake, while above my
head sounded terrible roar, as il the
very mountain was falling into the
valley below. fhe crash of rocks as
they were torn from their bed, and
broken asunder by the others that
came hurled by resistless power
from above-a force that nothing