The Lamoille news. (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1877-1881, 1877-08-01

At the sounds of her voice, the rage
of the mastiff, instead Of being at all
diminished, was very sensibly increas-
ed. lie stalked i'm front of the ladies,
and seated himself at the feet of his
mistress, growing louder than before.
and occasionally giving vent to his ire
by short, surly barking.
"What does he seeT said Eliza
beth, t.here must be some animal in
sight"
Hearing no answer from her COM
panion. Miss Temple turned her head,
and beheld louisa, standing with her
face whitencd to the color of death,
and her finger pointing upward, with
sort of Pickering, convulsed motion.
The quick eve of Elizabeth glanced in
I the direction indicated by her friend,
where she saw the fierce front and
glaring eyes of a female panther, fixed
on them in horrid malignity, and
threatening instant destruction.
''Let us TYP exclaimed Elizabeth,
grasping the arm of Louisa, whose
form Welded ike melting snow, and
sunk hfeless TO the earth.
There was not a single feeling in
the temperament of Elizabeth Tenn
pie, that could prompt her to desert a
companion in such an extremity; and
she fell on her knees, by the side of
the inanimate Louisa, tearing from the
person of her friend, with an instinc-
tive readiness, such parts of her dress
as might obstruct her respiration, and
encouraging their only safeguard, the
dog, at the same time, by the sounds
of her voice.
Courage, Brave !" she cried, her
own tones beginning to tremble, "cOur-
age, courage, good Brave" .....
A quarter-grown cub, that had hith-
erto been unseen, now appeared, drop
ping from the branches of sapling
that grew under the shade Of the beech
which held its dam. This ignorant,
but vicious creature, approached the
dog, initiating the actions and sounds
Of its parent, but exhibiting a strange
mixture Of the playfulness Of kitten
with the ferocity of its race. Stand
ing on its hind legs, it would rend the
bark of a tree with its fore paws, and
play all the antics Of a cat, for mo-
ment and then, by flashing itself with
its tail, growing, and scratching the
earth, it would attempt the manifesto
tons of anger that rendered its parent
so terrific.
All this tirie Brave stood firm ai1t
undaunted, his short tail erect, his
pody drawn backward onits launches,
and his eyes following the movements
of both dam and cub. Atevery gam
Dol played by the latter, itapproached
higher to the dog, the growing of the
three becoming more horrid at each
moment, until the younger beast over
leaping its intended bound, fell direct
ly before the mastiff. There was a
moment of fearful cries and struggles,
put they ended almost as soon as COM
menced, by the cub appearing in the
air, hurled from the jaws Of Brave,
with violence that sent it against a
tree 50 forcibly as to render it com
pletely senseless.
Elizabeth witnessed the short strug-
gle, and her blood was warming with
the triumph Of the dog, when she saw
the form of the old panther in the air,
springing twenty feet from the branch
Of the beech to the back Of the mastifT.
No words Of ours can describe the flu
ry Of the conflict that followed. 1t was
a confused struggle on the dried leaves,
accompanied by loud and terrific cries.
Miss Temple continued on her knees,
bending over the form Of Louisa, her
eyes fixed on the animals, with an in
terest so horrid, and yet so intense,
that she almost forgot her own stake
in the result. So rapid and vigorous
were the bounds of the inhabitant Of
the forest, that its active frame seemed
constantly in the air, while the dog
nobly faced his foe at each successive
leap. When the panther lighted on
the shoulders Of the mastiff, which
was its constant aim, old Rrave, though
torn with her talons, and stained with
his own blood, that already flowed
from a dozen wounds, would shake off
his furious foe, like feather, and
rearing on his hind legs, rush to the
fray again, with his jaws distended,
and dauntless eye. But age, and
his pampered life, greatly disqualified
the noble mistiff for a struggle. In
every thing but courage, he was only
the vestige of what he had once been.
A higher bound than ever, raised the
wary and furious beast far beyond the
reach of the dog, who was making a
desperate but fruitless dash at her,
from which she alighted in favorable
position, on the back of her aged foe
For a single moment only, could the
panther remain there, the great
strength. of the dog returning with a
convulsive effort. But Elizabet saw,
as Brave fastened his teeth in the side
of his enemy, that the collier Of brass
around his neck, which had been gilt
tering throughout the fray, was of the
color of blood, and directly, that his
frame was sinking to the earth, where
it soon lay PROSTATE and helpless.
Several mighty efforts Of the wildcat
to extricate himself from the jaws of
the dog, followed, but they were fruit
less, until the mistiff turned on his
back, his lips collapsed, and his teeth
loosened, when the short commissions
and stiffness that succeeded, announc-
the death Of poor Brave.
Elizabeth now lay wholly at the mer-