Wichita eagle., 1888-07-14

and the powder smoke almost stiaed ma. Be
ing a bit ratified had brougtt On IN intenn
thirst, and felt that ] had got to do SONS
thing pretty soon or sufocatA Pretty soon
crept forward and began pushing Ct To biz
carcass. but had not been gagged over two
or three minutes when tho panther returned.
She had carried her kitten to . place ot
safety, and was now bent On revenge She
realized that the carcass must b got out Of
tbs way before she could come ct me, and
had not seized the grizzly BY the ears and
hung on she would have pulled the body out
of the cave She hung 70 it for half N hour
before she quit the job. and then she retired
in a way whichleft no doubt that she would
watch at the entrance
When the panther had gone I struck .
match and looked at my watch. Il was nearly
noon. and was really suffering for water.
There was damp spot on the rocA ev~ my
head, and licked it with my tongue and in
that way got some relief. but / would have
traded my whole outfit that day Tor one glass
of cool water felt that was Ia q bad box,
and as is generally the case 10 such instances,
! thought Of every way out Of It but the
easiest one l reloaded my revolver, and
planned to wait until the panther would
leave the neighborhood, but about O'Clock
suspected. from the movements Of the tunnel
that the one had encountered bad hunted
up her mate and brought him to the front
Such soon proved to be the fact, bat as only
one could enter the place at a time, it was no
advantage to them. They took turns tug
ging at the carcass Of the bear, and the new
conner would have dragged 1t out IN short
order but for my interfTenca There was .
space of about six inches between the body
and the roof OF the tunnel, and, though the
fumes Of the powder almost choked me,
showed my revolver along until close to the
panther, and then put two bullets into him.
He let go his hold and backed out, and the
way he did rave up and down that ravine
made nv hair stand / had wounded both,
and neither Of them veneured into the place
again. For about an hour l heard them
growing and snarlirg outside, and every
click of their claws on the rocks was plainly
audible, but By and by they gave it up - q
bad job and went away.
It was now close on to o'clock, and went
at the carcass with the determination to push
it before me. It was too Late; the limbs had
stiffened like sticks, and the feet caught at
every inequality and resisted my efforts
There was, Q man Of 30, giant insstrength,
a born hunter and Indian fighter. penned up
like rat and Just a helpless 1t came to me,
even with all that meat before me-. that was
doomed to die Of hunger, and It was only as
the sum had almost been lost sight Of outside
that common sense returned TO my aid The
way to rid myself OF that carcass was to cut
it up 1t ought to have occurred to me at
the very outset, but the race and close pur
suit mad upset me- had a stout hunting
knife. and had Just begun work on the bear
when heard the voices Of Indians outside
l also heard them inside. for one of the fell
lows crept into the tunnel . few feet and
shouted in his own language to bis friends
outside:
sit smells very strong Of bear in here, but
the beast doesn't seem TO be at homa".
He backed out after finging several mis-
sizes at the rear Of the cave, and from the
voices and movements was satisfied that it
was hunting party numbering eight or ten
persons. They sat down right there for the
night, and built camp fire, which reelected
right into the mouth Of the tunnel, and kr pit
their chatter a-going until nearly midnight
They had three or four dogs with them, and
the miserable ours took turns at sticking
ucdAS iA1tS eAC StJOAAAAA6 o<Ao yAAA6 ~
raise an alarm One Of the Indians encour-
aged his dog to enter, and tas animal came
almost to the dead bear, and raised such a
fuss that had the red nsn been the least sns-
picious they would have Investigated did
not get wink Of sleep that long night, end
was q thankful man to hear the Indians move
off in the morning about sunrisa They had
no sooner departed than fell to work upon
the bear, and in the course Of half an hour
had cut him up so that could squeeze out.
AS the Indians had gone down the ravine
from the mountain / expected they would
discover my camp and lie in ambush for me.
There was also likelihood that the wild
beasts had killed both mules during the
night.
Luck was with me, however. The Indians
crossed the valley too high up to discover my
camp, and found the mules safe and sound.
That afternoon, a. was looking after some
traps set on q creek about mile from camp,
I found panther dead in thicket he wai
an enormous fellow and had two bullet
wounds, and it did not need much cogitating
10 convince me that he was the male Of the
pair which sought to get at me in the cave.
One Of the bullets bad gone square into his
head, and almost any other animal would
have died at once, bu. he had not only sur
vived it for two or thres hours, but had
travelled long 1--WE miles from the cay&-
New York Sun.