The Irish standard., 1891-06-06
FTREEIlJt DC A {
sA HAN VINO ,sat
m ~. S&

90.
John Dering, d yonng )hio farmer,
who recently came 10 Texas set la1t-
tied ii Angelin, count ~ pretty
good Nimrod before he came, but ~
knows more about hunting Syyil dcatss2
than he did, says q Lufl Tex cor 'ts {
respondent Of the st. Lzouis Globe Dem
.ocrat. One day he and one ON his his
neighbors, Arson Brown, were at work
on q fence at the back Of his fields.
when they heard the dogs rnnning
some thing in the bottom not Tar away,
and twas not 10 ng before the excited
bay Of the hounds anno unced that they
had their game sd reed. s. With the
spirit Of born hunters both men 1't,s
dropped their work and went over over
to. see what it was They found
the hounds leaping and barking z 7
around small sweetgun about twenty
feet high, and crouched among among the
branches near the top was g large WIG y
cat, looking about as vicious as e Wild Id
cat can. Neither of them had a gun,
and it was a long distance to the house
Brown proposed to go for r. g gun, o ny.
Dering objected. 55s ISL.
ssI'll tell you what we'll do, = he said !
TIL tie nv knife to a pole and = climb N
the tree and punch him out and let the
dogs catch him. s8.
In vain Brown warned and protested.
Dering laughed thin for being afraid
Of poor little wildcat that he scould
manage with one hand;' so the pro
gramme was carried out-that is par
TALLY. The knife, a good, long bladed
one, was tied firmly to pole about five
feet long, and Dering slipped of his
shoes and started up the tree, telling
Brown to .sstand from under, as the
wildcat might fall on you" AS he
climbed he noticed that the cat was
watching his motions with great dis
favor and was snarling and showing It's
teeth as he came nearer. He was not
afraid, however. He climbed still
higher, and bringing his pole into posi-
ton gave the animal a stab that
brought the blood. It also brought
something else that was not on the
programme. The cat was expected to
Jump or fall from the tree and be in
stantly torn in pieces by the dogs. In
stead it came down the tree like fash,
using Dering as a kind Of ladder to
come down on and scratching him in a
hundred places at once; and when it
was about four feet below him it
stopped and looked up, as though it
were inquiring If he wanted anything
more.
Now he was in fix! Up a tree, with
wildcat, and a very bad tempered
one, too, between him and the ground
Brown shouted at him to keep still, but
the baying of the dogs and the growl-
ing of the cat drowned the sound Of his
voice. Dering turned his pole, bring
ing the knife downward, and made
another frantic effort to dislodge the
vicious animal. Again the result was
not according to the programme. The
cat ran swiftly up the tree, running
over Dering again and sinking it's terri
bic claws wherever it touched. In an
instant it was back in it's old place at
the top Of the tree. Al
Dering had had enough. He threw
his pole off at one side and started
earthward with all possible haste, but
the cat, Gnlnklng ne Was aDOuI W dt-
tack it again, possibly, sprang at him
and landed square on his shoulders
The effect was immediate. Dering lost
his hold, and they went crashing down
through the branches together, and
were Immediately turned into wild
chaos OF cat and dogs and man rolling
and tumbling over the ground in the
most indescribable confusion. Brown
had the pole and knife, and was rum
ming around the scene Of combat trying
to kill or disable the cat, but could do
nothing without hurting Dering. Fl
nally Browns Juno, a very valuable
dog, finished the fight and killed the
cat, but not until it had killed Hector,
Junos mate, and severely wounded
two others AS for Dering, he crawled
out of the melee with a suit Of clothes
in ribbons, and bleeding from head to
foot, but none of his wounds were very
serious. He says, himself, that he ant
as pretty as he was before, but he is "a
long sight smarter"
EuGENlE'S EDUCATION.
Disadvantages Which Beset the Ex-Em-