The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1876-03-24

light against. The aD!S were TIE worst >
for, apart from the havoc which they al
ways make in a plantation, they have a
way OF running their galleries under tie
wiiolo Sd face, aud il breaks 10 just like
tho ciust of a pie. There's place liitIe
TO the noroh OF ibis, wieIe you see huge
| pit ID he ground, fnll of bushes and wild
| g ass, with here and there few snou'de.-
ing timbers, where whole village 81 nix at
once, the foucda; IONS having been fairly
honeycombeG by the auis! And thence
comes QUO saying tbab Faraguoy has ,wo
eneIn ,es--'the Wild Indians aId the ant
/ Indians"
| however, irc!,i!y for us, the;e weie no
Indians about there. except the tame
| Indians, Who behaved well enough, and
| used TO btiag rs food and dried meat in
exchange for LIiyes and aaaartl;c1.e.
Aud as for t'e ans, what with poisoning
them, and disgi1g up t:leir ness, ard
flooding .let gale, 'es with boiliag wate,,
We managed 10 get the best OF them at
last, tjough even now they sometimes
MO io,?y upon us from lie woods
around. DIo cr ,hen came another
i
need hU6ly ell you, who :Iayc been
tlIrnugh the 40 est you, sell, ilow they
swarm free; 2'u for n t:j'e really gave
myself op for los. NJ hu band used to
coll lhcn, ''.he AK Gathciers," aud, really
,hey ue.'e qd e as regv a.; not n day that
we didh'. I'd one or .wo OF them about
the ;ouce. And o CO wat a fright | po,,
When lolita WIS only few mon. rs old,
my hu>ba1d and BIS nlen had gore out 10
ticir work one morn : as usual, aud 7
! ws,s busy IN tho house, " h l,e child j. lug
asleep OIL a mat at the o:her eld OF the
room, when. ali at ohce, I caught sight OF
| a mouse's skin on the fip':. with the body
sucked cjean out OF i;, r.. an orange. l
knew ut oIce ,hat there .ruc5 be snake
somewhere aolut. for ;he. re mighty fond
| OF mice, and that's Just t'e way they deal
| with them bal, look a. [ might / could
see no snake anywhere, till suddenly the
thought sirucll me, conld il be under the
chld's mat? As gently as I could, lifted
up one corner, aud there it was, the long,
Shiny, green and yellow beast, ca.led
| suUGly Mp, aGd last asleep. I knew thatI
could do no.hi x w.,il :, myself, foi it was
a sort that you can only kill by shooting
| the m so [ RAJ odt in The courtyard, and,
| l1cl,ily, lie first thing l 81 " was our hun
| ter Jose, with his gun on his shoulder. I
called him in at ouce, ana he settled the
beast with a charge o. small shot.
However, as the work went on, aud we
got more and more ground cleared, our
visitors began to foIsake US; for snakes
| must have .bic< cover TO buryow in, and
| when that's taken away from them they
! soon slink of. So then I began to hope
that we we're fairly at the end of our
| troubles but we weren't we were only
at the begidaing Of them.
| ] don't know how it was-pcr'aps it may
have been hat (as the proveIb says eve.y-
| thing must have its turu u--bnt, somehow.
ali through our troubles with the ants, and
| scrpents, tbe bigger beasts had,never dis
| tuibcd us at all but row, just as we were
beginning 20 have little peace f.om our
other plaques, the four footed gentlemen
hogan to come on the stage at last. One
| morning Just as we were az breakfast, in
came one Of our vaaueros wi.h the news
that our cattle, while feeding among the
long gtass on the o.ler side of the river,
had been attacked by jssuar, aud one of
hem killed. The fellow who had brought
the news had 10 Iun for bis life, and would
hardly have escaped had there not been a
Eat OK ready at hand instead. AS it was,
he looked so thoroughly frightened that it
made us all rather serious. However, n
week passed without any fresh alarm, and
we were beginning to get over it when sud
denly in came three or four Indians in a
great furry to tell us that huge .iaguar
had broken into their encampment, aud
Killed woman and one Of their dogs.
When my husband heard the story he
made sure that it was he same beast that
had fallen upon our cattle; for they de-
sctibcd it as being OF a very strange color,
far lighter than any that had ever been
seen in those parts before, and from that
they nickuameG itathe'Pale Death" So
then we all thought it full time TO do some
thing; aud my husband called his men to-
getber 10 60 out aud hunt it down.
I remember that morning well, though
it be a year ago the day after tomorrow.
Away they went merrily enough, every
man with his gun and hunting knife, end
Moro, the blood hound, along with them.
Ny husband turned aad kissed his hand to
me just they entered the wood, and
:hen they wee gone!
When l found myself all alone IN the
house with Lolita, and thought of what
might happen if they met this horrible
beast, | was SO frightened that jalthoush
) had no thought OF any chance of danger 70
} myselC l wasn't satisfied till | had -shu,
, and barred every door in the house and
, then ] came and sat down in the drawing
room, and took Lolita in my lap, and tried
= to tell her story.
t Suddenly heard scraping along the