Sacramento daily record-union., 1890-09-16
AK EXCITING ExpER1ENcE.

can and civil war.
AN EXCITING EXPERIENCE.
Sport Often INDUCED in by Down-East
Lumbermen.
From 81. Nicholas
For myself, l was chopped down"
once, and once only. 1t happened in this
way: In the midwinter of 1879, I had
occasion to visit the chief camp of the
Little Madawaska Coming from the city,
and to camp where / was stranger TO
all the men, was not unnaturally re-
garded as a pronounced specimen of the
greenhorn. | took no pains to tell any
one what the boss already knew-that is,
that / had been frequenter of the camps
from my boyhood Many and many
neat trap was laid for my apparently
slender" feet, but / avoided them all as if
by accident As for climbing tree, l al
ways laughed at the idea when it was pfo-
posed to me. / always suggested that it
might spoil my clothes. Before long the
men, by putting little things together,
came to the conclusion that | was an old
stager; and, rather sheepishly, they gave
over their attempts to entrap me. Then |
graciously waved my hand, as it were, and
was frankly received as a veteran, cleared
from every suspicion of being green.
At last the day came when did wish
to climb tree. The camp was on high
plateau, and not far off lowered a magnif-
cent pine tree, growing out of the summit
of knoll in such way as to command
all the surrounding country. Its branches
were phenomenally thick; its girth of
trunk was magnificent. And this tree /
resolved one day to climb in order to- get
a clear idea of the lay oe the land. Of
course / strolled off surreptitiously, and,
as thought, unmatched. But there / was
mistaken No sooner was | two-thirds Of
the way up the tree than, with shouts of
laughter, the lumbermen rushed out of the
surrounding cover and proceeded to chop
me down. The chance was too good for
them to lose.
concealed my annoyance, and made no
attempt to descend. On the contrary, |
thanked them for the little attention, and
climbed few feet further up. to secure a
position which I saw would be safe one
for me when the tree should fall. As /
did so, | perceived, with gasp and
tremor, that was not alone in the tree.
There, not ten feet above me, stretched
at full length along a large branch, was
huge panther glaring with rage and ter
ror. From the men below his form was
quite concealed. CHANGING restlessly from
me to my pursuers, the brute seemed un-
certain Just what to do. As carefully re-
Trained from climbing any furthur up, and
tried to assume an air of not having OBJ
served him, he apparently concluded that
| was not his worst enemy. In fact, dare
say he understood what was going on and
realized that he and | were fellow-sufer-
ers.
laughed softly to myself as | thought
how my tormentors would be taken aback
when that panther should come down
among them. decided that, considering
their numbers, there would be at least no
more danger for them than that TO which
they were exposing me in their reckless
fooling And, already influenced by that
touch of nature which makes US SO won
drous kind, ! began to hope that the PAN
ther would succeed in making his escape.
The trunk of the pine was so thick that
l might almost have reached the ground
before the choppers could cut it through.
At last it gave mighty shudder and
sagged to one side / balanced myself
nimbly on the upper side, steadying my
| self by convenient branch. The great
mass of foliage, presenting wide surface
70 the air, made the fall comparatively
| slow one but the tremendous sweep of the
draught upward, as the tree-top described
its gigantic arc, gave me a sickening sensa-
| eation Thap coma tho final dull and
thunderous crash, and-in an instant, /
found myself standing in my place, Jared
| but unhurt, with the snow threshed up all
about me.
The next instant there was another roar,
or rather sort of screaming yell, over
whelming the riotous laughter Of the
woodsmen, and out of the confusion OF
pine-boughs shot the tawny form of the
panther in whirlwind of fury. One OF
the choppers was in his path, and was
bowled over like clumsy nine-pin. The
next bound brought the beast on to the
backs Of yoke of oxen, and his cruel claws
severely scratched the oxen's necks. AS
the poor animals beloved and fell on
their knees, the panther paused, with some
idea, apparently, of fighting the whole as.
sembled party. But as the men. recovered
from their first amazement, rushed with
their axes to the rescue of the oxen. the
panther saw that the odds were all against
him. He turned half round and greeted
his enemies with one terrific and strident
snarl, then bounded off into the forest at q
pace which made it idle to pursue him
The owner of the oxen hurled an ak after
him, but the missile flew wide of It's mark