St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-07-22
BIG TOMS ENCOUNTER.

[JoHN w. HAYES IN YoUTH's COMPANION.
Upon the north flank of the Black Noun
tains, and stretching off across the valley of
the Caney River to the Unaka Range, there
lies wilderness well-nigh as wild and un-
broken as when the Carolinas were first set
tied.
Southwark the railroads have crossed the
Blue Ridge and pierced the heart Of the great
mountains; and farther north the smiling
waters of the Watanga long ago invited in
the axe and the plough-share.
But the vast forests OF the Caney River Val
ley, hemmed in by mountain walls, have re-
manned virgin and untrodden, save by hun
tiers from that half-wild, s.cracker" popula-
ton, which scorns agriculture so long as it
can subsist off the chase
Those still wilder denizens of the back
country, the bear, the wolf and the deer, have
retired to these dense forests as a last refuge
from civilization. The bushy fastn esscs of
the Black Mountains abound with the former
animals; wolves still issue forth from sthem
in small packs to prey on the outlying flocl.s
of sheep, and the plaintive, longdrawn cry
of the panther is not an unusual sound at
n ght.
The mountain sides are covered with a
sombre growth of balsam and hemlock, and
in many places upon. their TANKS dense
jungles of laurel present impossible barriers
for miles. So tangled and interviewer is
this underground, that it is impossible for
man or beast to force passage through it.
Yet the bears, by trampling the young lau-
rels in their paths and breaking off the larger
branches as they grow up, keep open ''bur-
rows or tunnels, under the jungle. which
frequently meander for many miles along
the range.
In one of these laurel sstunnels,n last
Christmas morning, an old hunter known
as big Tom" Wilson had an encounter with
a panther and narrowly escaped with his life
'tBig Tomn has been all his life hunter,
and there is not bear path for miles around
with which he is not familiar, or laurel
thicket which does not contain some of his
skillfully hidden traps.
Our party of topographers, of the Govern
ment survey, had reached Toms cabin on
the banks of Caney river, few days before.
1t was our purpose to ascend Mt. Mitchell
on the following day to make observations"
upon the height of the surrounding hills.
The clouds which hang continually about
the peak in autumn had rendered this winter
! biiP hCSCoSuAy.
| Upon our arrival we found Big Tom but
| just returned from the top of the mountain.
/ The night before some ssyarmint'' had stolen
the Christmas pig which he had butchered
and hung up before his door to freeze. One
neighbor thought it was wolf, and another
insisted that nothing smaller than a bear
could have dragged off so large hog.
''There hain't marry a&ba'r acome nigh
my do that I'm sure on. More'n that, a
bars tail don't drag in the snow, an a bar
don't walk on a log, nuther. / done been
up the mount'in an seed the critters track
! in the snow, an low as how it is pain
ter, an the biggest painter as have been
| seed in these mount'ins come five year in
May. An ter think the beast walked right
up to my do an stold my hog, an I not
know it! I'll come up with that varmint
! eff it takes ten year. They must low as
Big Tom is gittin' ole, but they had better
not shed both eyes on him at once"
Tom had been on the animals track all
day, and followed it through the forest to
where the thief had feasted upon his Christ
mas pig, then on up the mountain side
till the trail disappeared in laurel thicket
near the summit of MitchelI's High Peak
There short way under one of the dark
pathways, Tom had set strong steel tray,
bated with the remnant of the beasts
| Christmas dinner. The old man was very
wroth. That any wild animal should have
stolen meat from his door was to him the
most presump tuous thing Imaginable.
He proposed to visit the trap the next
morning, and we were glad to avail ourselves
of his services as guide; for without guide
it would be impossible to thread our way
through the mazes Of the laurel growth.
The next day, as we had feared, ''snow
cap" rested upon the peak when we reached
the summit; and although the wind blew a
| hurricane, the clouds did not clear away
during the entire day. But Tom had come
prepared for just such an emergency. Under
the lea side of the peak, and sheltered from
the wind by the dense hemlocks and frs he
built shelter of green boughs and packed
! it with snow.
Under this our blankets were spread, and
roaring fire of dry logs was built in front
Wearied with unusual exertion. we had each
wrapped himself In blanket and lain down
under the shelter of the boughs as soon as it
was dark, leaving Tom to replenish the fire
while we slept.
The howl of the storm about the peak
seemed far away to us in our shelter, and the
sulen roar of a torrent from the gorge below
abruptly startled by a sound. 1t was like the
cry of a child In pain. In moment we
wide awake, for it needed little woodcraft to
interpret that voice.
"Gimme my rifle thar, quick!'' muttered
Big Tom. ''Thet's the critter I knowed l
was right. It's painter. He smells us
an he's coming this way, too'' he exclaim-
ed as another long wall was heard in the frs
| not far above us.
'Now, you 'uns ies' lay low, an low as
We'll have some peart fun
| But think we were all not little startled
To hunt panther by daylight is one thing,
but it is hardly pleasant to know that one
was sharpening his claws a few rods off in
the darkness, and to half expect him to jump
| into our shed.
Tom knelt in front of our shelter with
rife in hand trying to get glimpse of our
visitor, or catch a sound that might betray
his presence. The smouldering fire gave a
little circle of light around us; beyond that
wall Of blackness inclosed US. Presently,
out in the darkness, distinctly made out
two luminous eyes, like Goals of fire. In an
instant our guide had raised his rife and
| fired. There was hoarse cry as the animal
evidently bounded away, for we heard the
loose rocks rafting as It clambered up the
'sslide' towards the rock
Tom, of course, was uncertain whether he
had wounded the creature. The next morn
! ing was Christmas. AS soon as 1t was light,
Tom was out examining the trail. He was
satisfied now that it was panther and very
large one; and he found, too, that his shot of
the previous night had wounded it,
Following the trail in the snow, be traced
| it across the esbald'' that marks here the
crest Of the mountain, then around the steep
side of the peak till the tracks disappeared in
! in the laurel tunnel beyond.
| Toms heart beat fast, for 1t was in this