Omaha daily bee., 1883-06-13

stance where--I took their ASSURANCE
tor 1.-THE msu had passed three days
before, and the puma within two
hours. IL >sy be the cunning creature
knows 1t likely that whore mao has
gone something 1, eatNble, alive or
dead, may DO discovered. He is not
above Rnauin0 q stray bone. Bat I
have no serious suggestion to offer.
Ba the motive what IL may, the prAc-
tics leads directly or indirectly to the
death OF many travellers belsted In tho
woods And II causes the puma to be
regarded with shudderlng hate which
the msre fsroclous jaguar does not
Inspire.
When l add that the trail Of these
two animals Il distinguished one from
the other by . small heap Of Garth
which the punA's forepav throws up
behiud l think / have exhausted al
my mem orands of the hints which our
skiliiul ranohero poured fourth. There
Ia something Characteristic In this do.
tail Of the footprint Also. The pad,
OF either brute are almost alike In siz,,
though the tiger be 80 much bigger
and heavier. Bat he goes along with
= free, bold stride, while the othor
croushes and era Wis, his head down.
presiei bst the shoulders, ell bis
weight thro sn on the forelegO. Taus
they sink deep, and leave = Il y htlloca
of moist soil behlnd them.
The lore Of venerie unrolled by our
kindly host was illustrated with
stories. He himself gave al bis mind
to war against the puma, leaving the
jsguAr to his tigrsros. Caring only
to have the brutes destroyed, insensi-
bio to the pleasures Of the chase, he
found this system judioious. For, ~
he used . xths, Al immense expsndi-
ture of time WAS saved. And the hAb.
Ito OF the puma mentioned dives. Its
pursuit Of danger II firearms DO u,ed-
~ = vu!e, understood.
We had divergod to the subjsct of
black lions, an animal whose existence
has been denied, The ranchero had
nothing declsive to sdvsnoe on this
disputed question. Ee heard with "a.
%soniihment aud contempt that Ea-
ropoan savans doubted. Black puu,ss,
| no alleged, arc o. we'll authenticated
az black jagusrs. He had never
killed ono. Suoh skins ~ had come
beneath his notice were very large
truly. But no laughed scornfully ~
the idea that any woodsmsn could
make @ mistake. And tho testimony
Of one 40 experienced impressed uo.
"One day, said our host, ''nsws
came to hand that two Of my calves
had been seizsd by . black lion. II
was at the fnrtheat pasture, some ten
miles out. In the afternoon l rode
thtther with my dogs, to sleep ut the
vsqusro's hut, aud follow tho creature
ia the morning. All the herd was
brought into the corral. Soon after
dusk arose q great oommotion, the
cows running together, tho bulls
charging and furiously skirmishine
round them, We turned out-beyont
the corral pAling, you understand. Il
is o big Enclosure, and the night wal
very dark. Noise enough there WA
already to scare all honest lions In tn,
world; but on q sudden rose suol
tumult as sinful creatures make II
%purgatory. Cattle beloved snt
roared, women screamed; then q mul-
titude of %gslloping hoofs shook thu
ground, aud timbers crashed! AL
my herd stresmed through the fence
tearing over the misty plalu. For
tonately, mono Of us stood In thei
way.
"Nothing could BIO done that night
and l went back mad. That four
J legged demon had sprung or climbe,
the railing, snatched q young cal
under It's mothers belly, and van
iahed; you must know that she Wa
5 tied to the house wall. Some India
D women saw It hJ down among them
az they said, it's great eyes burnin
. like lamps, saw 1t crouch y secone
3 growing, staring Mt them; seize til
, calf beneath Its struggling mother an
. fly back. l knew too well that MOI
of my young stock would be missin
before dawn.
"Sending to the ranch for mo,
vsqueros, l went to bed. Next dn
all turned out early, the Indians
hunt my poor cattle, l to pursue til
, lion. His trail was followed eas
. enough"
a "a moment" my companion ex'
a claimed. "Did you notice that 1t wa
}, Il puma's track by the Sign you ha,
. described to us3"
g "Nol The dogs lifted 1t Instant
t and / followed at o Oanter. At tt
o forest edge I left my horse. tt
Q hounds had . long start, all but tn,
old perro yonder, who waited fl
mo He pointed to an ancient dol
. grey and SCARED, the only n admi
ted to the house, Of breed more Eur,
pesn than the cars outside.
II heard the pack qusrrsling On
snarling \ long way of, and I kne
what 1t meant. They had found til
n remains Of that black devils supp'
o and were dividing the fragments.
was not alarmed, however; he voul
Q leave little of . sucking calf. 1t too
Q mo more than half an hour to reac
tho spot, for there was an ugly bit
n sSAhp 10 clFouhVent Vnen L X
. there not . dug remained, and Il
bones, not Of one but of three calve
- Strewsd the earth. 1t had been h
regular dining--oom for three night
ever since he made his appearance O
my land, That told that his lair WI
/ no. far off, probably, and / decided
search for 1t, though my n dog "
n rather democrat zed by q scrap or tn
k of meat anatched on the sly while
was hunting around,
81 kicked him off, and he began
smell IN a larger circle. The trail "
struck In a moment, of course, and v
set Cd. I knew 1 could depend {
: that faithful perro not to outrun m
It and / was rather warm to face o blac