The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1891-02-12

threw himself upon his bed to think
awhile of the big panther, and then to
fall asleep to dream of the same crea-
ture.
Once, it must have been near mid
night, for the moon had gone down,
Tom was awakened by what appeared
to be long, strange cry from the for
est, He went to the window and
looked out, but saw nothing. He
might have opened his eyes if it had
been daylight, from eagerness to know
what he was to discover the next
morning, and after looking awhile, he
went back to bed and was soon asleep
again, this time sOunder than before
Tom Blossom had contracted the
habit of gettingup before the sun, and
the earliest birds were twittering in
the trees when he opened his eyes
II can foller the trail by daylight"
said Tom, thinking first of the big
panther. 'Ij the beast is badly wound
ed. he won't go far, an may bag i'm
after ALL"
He had barely ended when he hap
pened to look across the bed and saw
something that seemed to freeze his
blood. ii he had gone to bed alone,
he now had a bedfelow, and the
strangest one pioneer boy ever had.
Lying almost at full length beside
him. WAS the largest panther he had
ever seen. The large head was buried
betweeL the fore paws, and the beast
seemed asleep and totally oblivious of
The attention he was attracting. Tom
raised himself upon his elbow and
looked steadily at the panther. He
could see by the motions OF the taWny
hide that the animal was alive, and
while he looked, the head moved and
the eyes opened.
Realizing his danger, Tom dropped
back and feigned sleep. He could
hear MS own heart, and felt that the
panther was watching him with
breathless curiosity, as much surprls-
ed as he had been a moment before.
Presently the panther arose and
stood erect at the edge of the cot.
Then Tom ventured to unclose his
eyes and get good look at his late
bedfellow. He was surely the mon
ster animal at which he had fired the
night before. The beast had been
wounded for there was clotted blood
on one side of the head, and the bed
where he had lain was deeply stained.
The rife was inst out of Toms
reach, but even if it had been within
his grasp he would not have seized it,
for the slightest movement might have
cost him his life.
The frontier boy continued to watch
the panther till it moved toward the
window, whereit put it's fore feet upon
the sill and looked down the ladder.
Tom could see that it was weak and
painting, and his wish was that it
would quit the loft without coming
back to the cot.
Seconds seemed hours, to Tom, while
he watched the big panther. and when
it began to leavethe window, climbing
out like cat, he breathed free once
more. He did not move until he
heard the panther going down the lad
der, when he sprang from bed and
jerked the rifle from it's corner.
1t was but a spring to the window,
and the boy saw the animal making
off slowly across the clearing, like a
beast sorely wounded.
He raised the rife and took deliber.
ate aim, for now he had no moon.
shine to deceive him, and when the
panther paused a second to look back
at the house, as if lOath to leave it,
because of the good bed it contained,
he pressed the trigger. The huge ami,
NAL in the center of the little clearing
sprang into the air, and with a cry in,
tensely human in it's information fell
back, to struggle for one brief moment
in the grass.
The shot had not ceased to echo,
when the door of the cabin flew open
and the settler of the Muskingum
rushed out.
''That's the big painter, father"
cried Tom from the window. II slept
with i'm last night, an he was goin
off without payin' for his lodgin'"
Then Tom came down the ladder
and told the story OF the night hunt
with Dick Father and son agreed
that the panther, badly wounded, had
come back, as they discovered a poo
of blood under a clump of bushes be
meath the attic window, and that:
seeing the leaning ladder he had clam
bered up into Toms room, and
dropped exhausted on the bed with.
out SO nue.. as investigating who his
companion was.
1t was not long before Toms adven,
ture was known throughout the dis
trict and many came to see the pam
ther, which was the largest ever seen
in those parts. Tom Blossom grew
to manhood, and when he was quite
an old man he was wont to take little
children on his knees and tell them the
story of the boy who slept with the
panther.