Thomas County cat., 1890-04-17

saT "s '@> side, in the midst
Of large pine forest It was fifteer
miles to the nearest town, and ten te
the nearest settlement. There had
been, year or so previous to our locat
ing there, a saw-mill two miles far
ther up the mountains. An old house
was yet standing there, and beauti
full spring bubbled out of bank about
thirty yards away. Above this spring
grew the finest wild cherries I evel
saw. One morning, about the time
these cherries were fairly bursting
with ripe juice, my brother Frank
three years younger than myself, and
I asked our mother to permit us te
take our basket and go to this spring
to gather some of the fruit. We knew
that children accustomed to walking
as we were could walk the few miles,
gather our cherries, and return by
dinner-time. Mother, being very in
dulgent, soon gave us permission tc
go. So, taking our basket. we start
ed, followed by our little dog, Pansy
A brisk walk soon brought us to the
spring. We had nearly filled our bas
ket with cherries when we heard Pansy
give low whine of fear, as she came
scampering toward us. Frank cried
out: "Why, Pansy, what's the
and then stopped, for We both saw
coming through the bush toward us
two large, lank wolves, of q species
known as the great dusky wolf. They
were not fifty steps from us, and were
coming on at languid pace, for they
had not yet seen us.
"Quick, Frank" I cried, "let us gel
into the house,"
"Oh, but the doors are shat and fast y
he painted, shaking from head to foot
"Yes, but the window! the oper
window"
We started for the house as fast as
we could go, but the wolves, who had
by this time discovered us, now came
for US, with loud howls of hunger
On We ran. scarcely knowing what We
did.
Just as we reached the window We
heard poor Pansy give a yell Of pain
only one-and then-I was inside
and vainly trying to pull frightened
Frank in. At last, with scramble
he tumbled in. Now, this window was
only half window, and had been fas.
tened with heavy wooden shutter and
sliding fastenings. The fastenings had
slid, letting the shutter fall inward on
the floor. As Frank scrambled to his
feet 1 grasped the shutter and was lift
ing it to its place, when Frank cried out
"Oh, poor Pansy. poor Pansy! Let
her in; don't shut her out!"
[ knew our perilous position better
than he did, and did not stop to an
swer, but placed the shutter in its
place, and slid the heavy fastenings
against it-not any too soon, for at that
moment the bowling, hungry wolves
dashed against it with such force as
to make it crack and spring inward.
1 had presence of mind enough to
throw my weight against it, to hold it
in place for the time being. but it was
fortunate that the varmints did not
prolong the attack: or the rotten old
shutter would have surely yielded to
the pressure of their wild leaps. They
soon abandoned this, and went howl
ing about the old house, as if in search
of some way to get at us.
What do you think has become of
Pansy? Do you suppose they caught
her when we heard her yell?" asked
Frank.
"Of course they did," replied, "and
if they hadn't stopped to eat her they
would have caught u.s." which would
certainly have been the case.
"Oh, 1 wish they'd go away" moaned
poor Frank.
"If mother gets uneasy she may
come after us, and then"
We heard two loud reports of fire.
arms, quickly followed by another.
Running to a crevice in the wall we
were rejoiced at beholding our father
and two hunters coming toward the
house. They had been following these
same wolves all the morning. Father
was as badly frightened when We
showed ourselves as we were. 1 don't
know which of us was the worst fright
ened, Frank or I, but I do know that I
never could eat wild cherries after
ward, and Frank says they never
tasted as good to him.-ChicGgo Led
ger.