The Home advocate. (Farmerville, La.) 1885-1???, 1885-04-10
Camp Life on The Prairics.
E banter II.
si \. II. +.

Chapter II.
H. gently and carefully age.
them Ola 10 the side of the hill ou>
Of which the house is cut, and max
ing a circuit to leave them indis
tnrbei he returns to the hut After
moving restlessly about for a it'll,
while, one by one the lambs, baalns
for their mothers, suhsiLt, and al
last. beyond an occasional sneezt
or grunt, a dead silence reigns ovel
the surrounding creation.
The bedding Of the sheep accom-
piished, Jack makes up his owl
bed, and, lying down, thinks as 4
matter OF course. that he will al
once drop off to sleep, as he has al
ways done before. But the expect.
I'd slumber will not come. The I'm
easy uncomfortable, miserable feel
ing that unconsciously to himself,
has been steadily increasing even
since he arrived at camp. begins to
be almost lmbcarabl,'
Suddenly his shepherd dog
Skip lying at the door of the cab
in, leaps up and flies out into the
night barking furiOusly. Halliday
SEXES his loaded revolver, and go
ing outside listens intentiy. III
barking gets fainter and fainter.
Skip is evidently chasing away
some intruder, probably a coyote,
\ wolf! Strange that that word
makes his heat beat, and his fin
gers mechanically tighten round
the lock Of the pistol; for he knows
these prairie wolves are arrant
towards and will attack nothing
more formidable than sheep.
What causes this nervous dread
even of a coyote. 1t is because,
for the first time, Il hight must be
spent alone, away on the prairies
far from any human being. All
SOFAS Of fears that had been smiled
1T before take full possession Of
him now. He fines himself trtm
bling all over at-what? There's
nothing to be afraid of.
"Ah, what's that! That black
thug standing about twenty yard,
Offs it a bear? What can it be?
Perhaps q mountain lion (puma)
that knows lam alone"
jack raises his pistol to fire.
when there is a rush Of soft feet, a
loud ringing. bark from the return
IN. dog, and the appaliiiun-a
great black Texan sallops off
us fast as its legs can carry it, kick
ins up much dust in the operation
and protesting loudly all the way.
After a hearty laugh at himself
and ar atfectiomate caressing of Il G
faithful dog. Jack Il gain lies down.
this time detIrrli ned to sleep come
what may.
But it is not to be-. Just as he
is doing off the dog barks a sec
On1 time, but does not as bctcr,..
rush boldly out. There is another
sound too, that comes nearer, until
it is directly overhead. -tlc dull
thnnderons tramp OF afllightcd
sheep. The young hclder leaps
out of ucd in Il twinkiin., and is
sues forth: pistol in hand as before.
The night is pitch dark, aud he
can distinguish nothing: but the
shecp-beIis are ringing fillinusly
proving that the animals are rush
ins wildly from so.nc unseen enc
my.
The dog Gu, iously. cno,g|,. after
Il few undecided ntrvn!s howls.
subsidies INTO siic,lce. From these
signs Jack knows there must be
mountain lion about: an animal
which, if left alone, will do terrible
havoc among the flock one puma
having been known to cut the
rOats of thirty sheep in night.
Jack instantly fires his pistol in
. the air the report of which will
probably scare the animal for
time. But it has spoiled his night
rest, aud will do so for many a
night to come.
This is, in fact one of the great
est provOcatlons that he has to
endure. Oh every dark night this
puma viii be prowling around; and
nothing bat the greatest vigilance
can keep him from inflictfng fatal
damage on the unfortunate sheen.
These animals never come ex-
cept OH the dark nights. when YOU
cannot see yard before you, and
Of course areInitc nOiseless in their
movements. Moreover. it is a very |
dangerous business 10 attack them