The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1888-12-07

flesh. lay partly on my lett SIDE
with my feet toward the mouth
Of the cave; and could look out
into the boughs of a spruce-tree that
grew on the slope. I shall never
forget how strange a shaft of sunshine
appeared, slanting through these
boughs!
Unhappily I could also see the OBJ
jects within the cave, not agreeable to
contemplate. Right before my eyes
lay a couple of well-gnawed bones on
the Uttered floor. Mingled with the
beasts growing l heard other sounds
which, together with the uncanny
sight of the bones, filed me with fresh
terror. Mysterious, indescribable, they
proceeded from the depths of the cave;
harsh, hungry, mewing and whining
cries, as if the hollow behind me had
been packed full Of savage creatures,
tumbling over and smothering one
another.
These noises grew less muff1ed, and
seemed to approach nearer; then three
furry creatures, about the size of
common cats, but much clumsier, came
crawling over and about me, shifting
at my clothes and uttering again their
harsh, whining news.
I was in the lair of the liOness,
whittier 1 had been dragged, to fur
nish sport for her young and practice
for their infant teeth. Fortunately my
clothing was not much to their taste.
They turned to her with a ravenous
importantly to which she yielded; and
there in my sight, stretching herself
out on the floor of the cave, she gave
them suck.
The mind is so constituted that we
soon grow accustomed to things that
seem at first too painful or too terrible
to be endured. l took in fully the
dreadful peril of my position; but l
had regained possession of my facul-
ties, and was capable of observing all
that took place.
As the Iioness lay before me on the
ground l could see what d 1.-the,
superb, tremendous animal she was.
Her head, lifted upright over one fore
shoulder, was opposite my knees; her
hind feet stretched out beyond my
face. Between her and me were kit
tens-Or whelps, as we should call
them, if the beast were really a lion.
But though dignifed by that name in
California, whore it grows to truly
formidable size-a name suggested
also by the leOnine color of the upper
portions of its body-the animal is
really the cougar, or puma, or panther,
of other parts of America.
Notwithstanding my fearfully anx-
ious state of mind, noticed that the
young ones were differently marked
from the mother. They too had white,
or grayish white, below; but above
their fur was of a lighter tint than
hers, which was reddish brown; and
they had rows of pretty soft black
streaks and spots on their sides. She
seemed proud and fond of them and
purred as they nestled in her breast.
Such a purr! Its low, slow thunder
filed the cave. Now and then she put
down her head and rubbed her face
and the upper side of her neck against
their backs. They left her breast now
and to crawl over her, or tussle with
each other, returning to it after each
tumble, and Juggling away again at her
teats, until their hunger was satisfied.
Then commenced a frolic so catlike
that I was at one time almost led to
hope that might gain some advantage
from their good nature.
Yet l knew well that | owed my re-
spite, not to that, but to the simple
fact that the mother had but lately
gorged her appetite for flesh and
blood, and that her young ones first
preference was for milk. She was
sure to he hungry again before long;
and she would then, no doubt, give
them q lesson in d-sposing of their
prey. Meanwhile / was a morsel that
would keep. She probably thought
me disabled, as I certainly should have
been but for my clothing, which had
served as a foil to her fercely meeting
fangs. Yet, even while occupied with
her young, / felt that she never for a
moment lost sight of me with those
wild, vigilant eyes.
lay as she had left me, not daring
to stir; but beginning at length to
question whether there might not yet
be for me some chance of escape. The
sole weapon l had about me was a
common pocket-knife; but even though
l could have managed to get at that
and open it, without exciting her at
attention, felt that it would be a mere
toy in combat with such a foe. And
any attempt to get away from the
cave, either by agility or stealth,
would only have precipitated my fate.
| was four miles from the ranch; it
would be hours yet before my absence
would cause much anxiety, and, even
then. wbc would think of looking for
ne in the lair of a Eoness? In their
gambOls the kittens sometimes brushed
my face with their tails; and once the
mad impulse seized me to catch one
and pitch il over the ledge at the
mouth of the cave, in the hope that
mother would follow it. Then might
fling the other two still farther down
into the canyon, and while she was
looking them up, make my escape. 1t
was desperate thought; but my situa-
ton was desperate, aud sudden death
seemed better than the prolonged
agony Of suspense, which, after all,
death must end.
If I had been in position to take
sudden hold of one of the young ones
if there had been room, as the saying
is. to Swing a cat" and | had had
time to do it before the mother could
hinder me, think I should have made
the attempt. l saw how impossible it
was Then. again, I hoped she would
soon tire of her play, and. stupefied,
perhaps, by her recent banquet, lie
down to digest it, and go to sleep; thus
affording me one chance in thousand
to creep out without awaking her.