The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1891-11-13
CHASED BY MAD DOGS.
HAIR5READTH ESCAPE OF A CLUB
MAN AND HIS BEST GIRL.

al DoSS Oo BIT "eLlneS-SC
Some Savage Brutes Don't Waste Much
Time in Barking When Out for Blood.
No n had spoken at the club for
about an hour when a raconteur rose to
the occasion. Laying aside his pipe with
a look of regret he began:
Its a popular saying that barking
dogs don't bite. Like other popular say
ings this is a fallacy and misleading.
Barking dogs do not bite while they are
barking, but there is only n species of
canine that sneaks up to you and takes
hold without saying a word. That is
the Scotch collie, which inherits its habit
of silent biting from a sheep nipping an
cestry."
"Story! story" called out the pres
ident.
STORY: God bless you! l have none
TO tell, SIR" quoted the raconteur, re-
membering his classics; ':this is only a
memory Of two dogs, accused brutes,
that lived with an unfriendly man on a
hill, over which the postroad was laid.
This man, who was a Cain among his
fellows, kept two savage mastiffs, who
not only barked but bit whenever it was
possible. I was counting my first wife
up there in the Cumberland mountains
in British North America where this
happened, and had to pass the house
regularly. | drove a bloodeG mare that
went like a bird, and the dogs were no
match for her, but it was very annoying
to have them follow me down the hill
for a mile or more barking and yelping
like demons. They would Dark at the
stage coaches and run long distances
after them, but the passengers We're safe
inside and the driver and those on the
outside were too high for them to reach.
But l heard frequent stories of their at
lacking men, and being beaten off with
sticks and stones. asked why they
were not killed and my answer was
always the same, a shrug of the should
Prs and the remark: you don't know
the kind Of man their owner is 1t
seemed that he lived alone with his
dogs, and people feared him 80 much
they dare not go to him to complain
Or call in the provincial laws to help
them.
A TERRIBLE CHASE.
"a crisis came, when one day l took
my sweetheart out for a sleigh ride in a
low pung belonging to her father, to
which was harnessed my own sure and
swift footed mare. It was a lovely day
and we expected to make a safe and
rapid descent of the mountain, a dis
lance of ten or twelve miles. The air
was crisp and cold, the sleighing fine,
md we skinned up the ascent and
reached the landing before we knew we
had started. There we were met by the
dogs. [ think it would have been less
difficult to have gotten rid Of a pair of
wolves. | dare not give my mare her
head going down that long, steep declivi-
ty IN frozen snows and the dogs, en-
boldened by the cold or maddened by
repeated lashings from my whip, jumped
at my companion and tore her cloak and
her dress in mouthfuls. l dubbed with
my whip and beat them On the head, but
they did not even seem to feel my blows.
Their great black and yellow frames
luivered with ferocity. The hair on
their backs stood up like manes; their
eyeballs cleaned red and angry, and the
noise they made was deafening and dis
tracing.
"'Ohr I exclaimed, why haven't / a
~pistol?:'
"rLoolz in the box under the seat
cried my companion, whose face was
0lanched.
Il looked quickly, and found a rusty
double barreled horse pistol Of q make of
forty years ago.
lis it loaded? l asked.
eyes, but don't shoot. IF you do that
man will kill you!
TWO FIXED THEM.
81 remember thinking how like a
woman it was to tell me where to find
the pistol and then ask me not to shoot.
Il laid the reins loose on the mares
back and away she went like the wind,
beyond my control now, and | knew she
would never stop till she was a mile be-
yond the level ground at the foot of the
hill.
IF the pung held together; if nothing
made the mare swerve from the direct
line; if, in fact-if Providence kept an
eve on US, and the breeching didn't
break, we might escape breaking u
necks. Hooked back and saw the dogs
gaining On Us, even at that mad gait
then l took aim and fired. Bang! Bang!
There were two dark objects lying prone
On the snowy road, and as quick as she
could gather her feet under her my mare
stopped in her tracks. She was trained
10 the use of a gun.
But my companion urged me to hur-
~ on, and we were soon down the in
cline and beyond the reach of recogni-
ton or pursuit, and strange to say no
one but our two selves eve knew who
killed those dogs. We heard the most
marvellous accounts of the slaughter, the
weapon varying from a Queen Anne
nusket to a cannon but dead they We're
as door nails, and their reign of terror
over. Imagine their owner did not care
to venture out to avenge their death. I