Charlotte home and Democrat., 1886-12-10
In a Panther's Den.

tA
The lumber firm in which / was em
ployed desired to establish camp near
the head-waters of the Wolf river, Wis
consip, and was instructed TO look over
the ground and report. left Shewano in
August ip skif, taking with me pro-
visions, fre-arms, aud camping outfit,
calculating to be gone about twenty days.
was accompanied by my dog, large
and savage bloodhound. With my ak |.
cleared away place for the buildings,
blazed the way to spring, and out down
number OF small pines to be ready for
fre-wood when winter and the men arrived.
1 had small tent with me, plenty of
good provisions, and the first two or three
days and nights passed without alarm.
One night as sat smoking at the door of
my tent, / heard the cry OF . panther
from q jungle across the river. There was
no mistaking the sound. The man who
has ever listened to the long-drawn scream
of a panther, will never confound it with
the cry of any other wild beast. This fell
low screamed out three or four times, with
an interval of about five minutes between
the screams, and then be was suddenly
answered by his mate, who was on my
side of the stream, and apparently not
more than twenty rods away. I've had
to do with various wild beasts in nv time
and never knew anything to weaken 0
dog like the yell of panther. That dog
of mine wouldn't have hesitated mo-
ment to attack bear or wolf, but the
yells of those panthers made coward of
him in no time. He crawled into the tent
and | could neither coax nor drive him
out. However, don't blame him so very
much, for every yell sent the shivers
climbing up my spine in way to make
me ashamed of myself. I heaped on the
wood until had big fire, and after the
beasts had called to each other few
times they ceased screaming, and the
woods were as silent as graveyard. In
about an hour the dog regained his cour-.
age and came out of the tent and began
snufiug around. By and by some small
animal ran aoross the open ground in our
front, and the dog uttered a bark and
dashed after it. heard him rushing
through the woods for two or three min
| utes, and was about to whistle him to re-
turn when there was one loud, fierce yell
from one of the panthers, a yelp of terror
from the dog, and I knew that he was q
goner. Iwhistled and called, but had
seen him for the last time.
I got but little sleep that night, feeling
| they had mind to attack. Directly af-
| the dog had taken, and after travelling
about $50 feet came upon the spot where
he had met his death. / think the pam
ther had leaped down on him from a tree
and secured great advantage, for there
had been no, struggle. The. pine-cones
were splsshed with blood. and tufts of
hair could be found here and there where
the dog was dragged off in the direction
of the stream.
| had with me double-barreled shot
gun and 1. revolver, and determined to
revenge old Tigers death. had noticed
big heap of drift-wood short distance
| up the river, and on the other side, and
from this heap fallen tree bridged the
stream. When l came to inspect this tree
I found more blood and tufts of hair, aud
it was plain that the dogs body had been
carried across to some den in the drift
wood. crossed by the log and mounted
the heap. 1t was composed of limbs,
trunks, and dead logs which had been
there on the low ground in high water. 1:
looked like good place for panther's
den, and as I carefully moved about held
the gun ready for shot.
My idea was to descend the heap and
look for the opening of the den, but I de-
scended in manner entirely unlooked-for.
A limb suddenly gave way under my feet,
and / went crashing through the pile,
which at that spot contained a hollow as
big as an ordinary bedroom. Both bar
rels of the gun exploded as l fell, and the
gun was lost from my grasp. l landed in
heap on the ground, surrounded by bro
ken branches, and enough daylight came
down to enable me to see what sort of a
place had fallen into. 1t would be no
great job to climb out, and / was making
move in that direction when heard the
faint squeals and squeak of kittens, and
looked down to find pair of wee little
panthers under my feet. Scattered around
were bones and pieces of flesh to tell the
fate of old Tiger. was in panther's der
, and as I realized it my heart jumped into
my throat until it seemed as if / could
not get my breath. l was thoroughly rat
tied and ready to run, and for two OF
three minutes / made frantic efforts ts
Chamber out. AS fast as reached lint
it broke under my weight and let me dowr
. again, but was still trying, when heard
1 one of those panthers yell out. It WASH
, the CRY Of the previous night, but snar
! of rage, and knew / was to be attacked d
| NOW, lOT WuaL IOiI0Wb nave TecelteO III
!. credit of being very great man, but
{ am ready to confess that never felt my
Q self more of coward. was at bay, an,
Q towards will fight when driven to the wall
: I just bent over those cubs, drew my revol
' yer, and in about minute caught sigh
b of q panther's head as she worked her wa,
J. 10 through the drift. / took quick ain
g and let her have it, and she didn't kick
/ dozen times. knew the other one wa
j. around somewhere, and didn't have thre
t minutes to wait. He came, for me by
q different route, and he was almost upon M
q before I fired the snot that finished him.
q The kittens were about two weeks old
J. and after the old ones had been finished
/, knocked the little ones in the head. Whe
I returned to Shawano, carried the paw
to prove that had destroyed four par
[. theirs, and, a. told yon, / got the credi
D. Of being lion-hearted Nimrod. desers
l. ed not one word OF praise. simply ha
le the nerve TO use my revolver when pinch
D. ed, and the killing of the first beast b.
o. one bullet was simply lucky ehot.
Of - cs
t. U The paper pipes Tor water and ga