The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-05-17


with the rife all ready to fire on my
knee, I patiently awaited the return of
the panther and the end of my advent
ure.
Il had quite made up my mind to
tarry till far into the night, for as the
creature apparently was not hungry, it
would probably be in no hurry to re-
turn. As the moon, which was nearly
full, shone from the sky, did not think
that even at night should miss it at
that short distance. At all events l
would see what it meant to do. ..
81 had been sitting up there little
more than half an hour, when l sudden
ly heard a light rustling among the
leaves, and turning my head in that di-
rection, splainly saw how the thick
bushes were being moved to and fro.
'It was not long before l saw the yell
lowish brown head of the beast, with its
sparkling eyes, kept close down to the
ground. Very cautiously it glided up,
surveying and smelling the place where
Ihad been lying among the bushes. No
wild animal enters half-open place
without carefully looking round to see if
any danger threatens. Fortunately I
was sitting so that the wind blew from
the panther to me, SO that it could not
smell me, and | might easily had shot it
dead; for when l first heard the noise, l
had raised nv gun and had covered it
with a good aim. But l had grown curl
Gus, and wanted to see what the beast
would do next.
"When the panther saw that all was
safe, it crept forward with its whole
body; but it was not alone, for close be-
hind it, and also smelling the ground in
the same manner, there crept along two
young panthers, the one to the right,
the other to the left of the mother, and
the old one every now and then looked
round after them, probably to see if her
young ones followed, with due caution.
The cubs might be. perhaps, four or five
months old; they walked quite well, and
had pretty cat-like faces.
"Now, it was fortunate, that 1 no
longer lay on the ground. l must con
fess almost forgot my rife at that
moment, 80 anxious was | to see what the
brown, creeping beast would do with my
supposed person under the leaves. eau
tiously and noiselessly the panther
mother and her two little ones gIided up
to the branch hidden under the leaves,
and. when they were five or six PAGES
distant from it, the two young ones still
to the right and lie ft of the old one, she
crouched down to make the decisive
spring, and the next moment flew like
an arrow from a bow straight to the
piece of wood, into which she buried her
claws.
"The little ones did exactly the same,
only that they did not reach the place
with one spring, but required two or
three to do SO. But l did not regard
them much now, as / felt that at this
moment my time had come to fire if l
did not wish to lose the old one, for she
would not stay long in the place as soon
Us she found that all was not right
GAS soon as she had fastened her
claws into the wood, she remained for a
moment in the same position as if quite
astounded, for she had not expected to
find hard body under the leaves. But
the nose of my rifle was now directed at
her head, my finger was on the trigger,
and with the report the ball entered her
skull, so that she fell dead upon the log
of wood, and remained lying there. The
two young ones Irembled at the shot,
aud as she did not move, they did not
know what to make of it.
"Up in the fatal tree where | sat so
cramped up, l could not load again.
Taking, therefore, my rifle quickly in
one hand, I let myself down with the
other by the branches, jumped to the
ground, and then ran, hallooing loudly,
upon the little animals. One ran a few
PAGES, and then climbed up into a young
tree; the other fled among the bushes. I
stepped at once up to the tree on which
the young one had taken refuge; ]
loaded my rifle as quickly as / could,
and then l shot it. / loaded again, and
placed myself behind the old one. /
knew that the other poor little cub
would come back to seek its mother as
soon as it thought the danger was over
and it heard no noise. lay thus good
time, and at last the second young pan
ther came creeping through the brushes,
and now from quite different direction
from that in which it had fed, and, as
soon as it showed its head, my bullet
pierced it. ,... ...-.r
"Thus, though for months I had not
seen one, shot three panthers in one
day, and / brought my companions
enough to keep us alive, and to keep our
saucepans boiling for some time"