Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1886-11-05
STORIES or THE WILD WEST


Uncle zoe, nm Indian aud a Panther.
81 was huntin' and trsppin' along the Co.
lumbia river on the Oregon side, said Uncle
Joe, veteran Of the plains and mountains,
land while was right in the Iniun country
l kvered my tracks 80 well that it was weeks
before they got on TO me. l built a brush
hut in a heavily-timbered bottom, and the
keerful manner in which / moved around the
neighborhood would have done credit to cat
used the bow aud arrow altogether in kill.
in game, and my traps brought me in a back
load Of furs about as fast as could take keer
OF EN-
II guess had bin located about six weeks,
and had become sort O. careless, as was nat.
ural, when got a sudden eye-opener. One
afternoon l came plump on the moccasin
track of an Injun, and from the way it cir
cumocuted around soon made up my mind
that he was huntin' for me. / was a bit puz-
zied at first because there was only one track,
but by aud by | figured out how it was. 1t
was either some Iujun who had slipped of to
trap by hssef for few days, or it was some
warrior who had had his suspicious aroused
and was doin' a leetle investigation on his
own hook. II be got my scalp he was so
much ahead, and glory awaited him. II he
got nuthin' be wouldn't be laughed at by the
know OF his adventure. The mint
diskivered his footprints | pulled myself to-
gether fur bzness, and l hadn't follered his
trail over twenty rods before found that he
was follerin an old trail Of mine.
1T didn't take me mint 10 realize that
one Of Us had got to die afore that hunt
would be ended. It was question of fish or
cut bait with me. l should be foered if
left the bottoms, fur that red-skin wanted my
life, and l couldn't stay il he did. On his
side, it would never do fur him to abandon
the place after he had diskivered that WAS
alone. He must stake his life agin mine and
abide the issue. Mebbe you kin realize sun
thin OF the feelin which comes over a man
when he knows that he is bein' tracked by
somebody who demands his life. I'd rayther
have had whole tribe Of redskins come
whoopin' and yellin' down upon me than to
know that serpent was dodgin aud era Win
along my trail, silent, determined and impla-
cable hit the feller's trail about half
mile from the hut, and the hour was about 3
o'clock. | knew that he must sooner or later
strike one Of my fresh trails and bring up at
the hut, and instead Of followin' him as he
followed my old trail broke of after few
minutes and made directly fur the hut Near
by was mass of rock which offered a secure
hidin' place, and if could reach it without
is, it was reasonable to believe that he would
show up within shootin' distance durin' the
next twenty four hours
Il made the tallest kind O. tracks when
once got started had to take the chance
of his havin' found the hut an bein' in am-
bush, and I'm not disputin' that it was a
great load of my mind when l got safely
settled among the rocks. l dashed into the
hut and got my rifle and hunk of cold meat,
and in twenty seconds more was safe for the
time bein'. Jst what direction the varmint
would approach from could not guess, but
he would be still more puzzled to know what
had become of me. For the first hour the
place was as silent as a graveyard, and was
lookin' and listenin' as only man can when
his life is at stake to git hint of the where.
abouts OF tho enemy. l finally got sign.
A buck deer cum runnin' past me in a way to
show that he had seen human bein' not far
of, and fggered that the redskin was ap-
proachin' from the east. He had made a
complete half circle of my hidin' place. For
the next half hour l used my eyes and ears
until my head ached. 1 knew the varmint
was approachin' the hut, but he was comm
so cautiously that l could not tell the exact
direction.
The sun was now gettiu' pretty low, and
allowed that IL he didn't show up purity
soon I'd be badly boxed up for the night.
was all on aige and skeercely able to hold my
SELF when, all of a sudden, the silence was
broken by an awful yell, follered by cry
from some human bein'. 1t wasn't way off
but right there within stones throw, and
riz up as il had springs under me. Right
there before my eyes, and not hundred feet
away, panther and an Injun was having it
hot and heavy, the beast using his claws and
teeth, and tue redskin cuttin' and slashin
with his knife. l was so astonished that
couldn't move for mint or two, and when
got ready there was no use in movin' The
two varmints rolled over a dozen times too
badly mixed for me to tell which was which
and then the panther kinder drawed out oil
the fight. He might have got fifteen feel
away when he keeled over and kicked in q
way to tell me that he'd got his full The In.
| jun uttered a faint whoop as the panther
| drawed of, but when 1 reached him was dead
as a door nail. He had fit it out hand to
hand, usin' his huntin' knife, and I'm tellin
you he was terrible looking object. The
beast had torn almost every inch of clothin
of n him, and he was bit and clawed until be
was like raw beef.
"Well, l fggered it out purity easy. That
panther had slowed hisself away on lint
calkerlatin' to make it hot fur me. | reckon
he didn't git up there until after had am.
pushed myself, and when the redskn cum
crawlin along the beast didn't stop to SCI
whether he was white or black. l was a pan
ther skin, rife, tomahawk and huntin' knife
ahead, and, although l remained there three
weeks longer, l saw no further signs Of In
| juns."