The Forrest City times., 1891-03-13
The bows did not advance to tho

Inc OOyS dtQ not auVanCe to tho spot where the panther had stood nn- til Tom had carefully reloaded, but their caution was ali for naught, for
 beyond trail of blood which glis. tened in the light of the moon, there
 was nothing to show for the shot. tits too bud, but Thad a touch of buck fever, said Tom with smile.
 "Mebbe can find i'm yet" and they
 secured the immediate vicinity, but
 without finding the animal. Indeed, they lost the blood trail d. l together, and at last Dick bade Tom good night and went home. He clam. bered up the sapling ladder and put | the gun away, then disrobed and threw himself upon his bed to think
 awhile of the big panther. and then to,
 fall asleep to dream of the same cresS l ture.
 | Once, it must have been near mid | night, for the moon had gone down, | Tom was awakened by what appeared 1 to be a long, strange cry from the for
 est, He went to tho window aItl looked out, but saw nothing. Hee might hare opened his eyes If 1t 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 l habit of gettingup before the sun, and | the earliest birds were twittering in 1 the trees when he opened his eyes. II can foller the trail by daylight" said Tom, thinking first of the big
 panther. Iii the beast is badly wound
 ed, he won't go far, an 1 may bag i'm 1 after all :"
 i 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, l he now had bedtellow, and the strangest one a pioneer boy ever had I Lying almost at full length beside him, was the largest panther he had
 ever seen. The large head was buried i between the fore paws, and the beast l seemed asleep and totally obvious of 1 the attention he was attracting. Tom raised himself upon bis elbow and 1 looked steadily at the panther. He
 could sec by the motions Of the tawny i hide that the animal was alive, and
 while he looked, the head moved and
 the eyes opened.
 Realizing his danger. Tom dropped back and ieigned sleep. He could i hear his own heart, and felt that tho panther was watching him with
 breathless curiosity, as much surpriS~
 cd us he had been n moment before. 1 Presently the panther arose and stood erect at the edge of the cot l t.1 l,, eyes and get a good look at his lato 1 bedfeilow He was surely the mon. ] sser animal at which he had fired tho night before. The beast had been 1 wounded, for there was clo,ted blood l on one side of the head and the bed
 where he had lain was deeply stained. l The rifle was inst out of Toms reach, but even Ii 1t had been within ] his grasp he would not have seized it. ] for the slightest movement might have
 cost him his life.
 1 The frontier boy continued to watch i the panther till 1t moved toward the window. whereit put it's fore feet upon ! tho sill and looked down the ladder. i Tom could see that 1t was weak and i painting, and his wish was that 1t would quit the loft without coming back to the cot.
 Seconds seemed hours, to Tom, while
 he watched the big panther. and when 1 ii begr.i to leave the window. climbing i out like cat. he breathed free once more He did not move until he i heard the panther going down the lad i der, when he sprang from bed and { jerked the rifle from it's corner . l,.t t..x and the boy saw the animal making l of slowly across the clearing. like
 beast sorely wounded.
 He raised the rifle and took deliberta
 ate aim, for now he had no moon-i shine to deceive him, and when the
 panther paused n second to look back
 at the house as if loath to leave it, because of the good bed 1t contained,
 he pressed the trigger. The huge ami
 mal in the center of the little clearing. sprang into the air. and with cry in- tensely human in its intonation 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 l ;snd the settler of the MusSingum l iuSfitu out.
 That's the big painter, father"
 cried Tom from the window. Fl slept { with i'm last night. an he was goin' of without payin' for his lodgin'." 1 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 pool ot blood under clump oi bushes be- heath the attic window, and that,
 seeing the leaning ladder he had clam bered up into Toms room. and l dropped exhausted on the bed with
 out so much as Investigating who his companion was.
 It was not long beiore Toms adven-
 ture was known throughout the dis
 triet and many came to see the pam l ther, which was the largest ever seen ! m those parts, Tom Blossom gptw i to manhood, and when he was qtNAe 1 an old man he was wont to take httles children on his knees and tell them tho
 story ot tho boy who slept with the panther.
 And So Say Wo All of Us. I Z nNp,lt i.a'ia ar.. ,x,DS,s ..r.t,.f .fas.a