Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-02-23
.ound which I could mot mistake--a lone.l

passionate roar-a cry that | hid often
heard from the woods ut night, and never
without feeling rs IL my heart stood still.
The thought rushed through my mind,
"Oh, heaven, the jasuar"
shall never forget that momenti For a
second | was quite rigid and helpless, as if
life had departed, and then n thought
flashed upon me; the jaguar was not to be
kept off if he penetrated here from the
roof, for most of the inner doorways had
only draperies In my dining room was a
great wooden meal ch est, nearly empty, and
large enough to hold six or seven persons
at once If Lolita and / could get there.
thought |, we are saved.
| seized the child, ran with her into the
dining room and crept into the chest. I'm
fortunately it had u spring lock, so that |
was forced to hold the lid open with my
left hand, to guard against its locking and
Immediately sitting us; but it had more
than an inch of outer rim, which COM
pletely hid my fingers.
1t WAS not Il moment too soon. We were
scarcely hidden, when | heard the great
claws scratching along the floor, and the
, hungry smiling of the jaguar showed me
! that he was in search of food
| He came straight to the chest ard paused
! a moment, as if he feared a trap Then he
nut his head close TO the small opening, so
that ! could feel his hot breath. He shifted
awhile and then tried to raise the lid with
his paw.
| How | trembled But. thank heaven,
the great paw would not go il the narrow
crcvice, and | held the cover fast by cling
ing to the inner par of the lock with all
the strength of desperation. All he could
DO was to stretch out his tongue and lick
my fingers until they bled as if they had
been scratched by saw. And then. us he
tasted blood, and heard Lolita cry (:or nv
poor darling was just rs frightened as
was), his eagerness increased and he began
to utter piercing yells, which sent icy chills
over me.
l wonder why the fright did not kill me,
but the touch of LoliJa's little arm around
my neck seemed to keep up my courage.
Still the worst was yet to come.
When the jaguar found that he could
not reach me from below he sprang upon
the chest. His huge weight crushed nv
fingers between the two parts of the lock.
Then thought all was over and shrieked
so that my cries rang through the whole
house.
But my cries were presently answered by
a sound which made my heart throb with
Joy-answered by the barking of our blood
hound. The jaguar heard it, too. for he
sprang down and stood for moment lis
tening, then ran to the door as if to flee
Again came the sound of the dogs bark
this time nearer-and at the same time
the voices of men calling to each other
Contrary to expectation they were already
coming hack
Meanwhile the jagUar seemed to be be-
wildered, and ran wildly to and fro. Sud
denly Il loud cry came from one of the win
dows, followed by two shots and fearful
howl; then my husbands voice anxiously
called
"Cachita, whore are you?"
had just strength enough left to get out
of the chest, drag myself to the door and
let my husband in. Then swooned away
They told me afterward that our blood
hound found the jayuar's trail. leading
straight back to the house. and they all
hurried home ut full speed, fearing harm
would come to me.
My husband and Jose came in front of
the rest, and shot tie iaguar through the
window, but my husband told me that
when he saw the animal in the house he
felt as if stified
/ could not move a oiut of that hand for
many weeks afterward The Indians gave
Inc medicine to heal it and they say that af-
ter awhile | shall be able to use it again. |
did not need this injury to make me remem-
Der that day. If were to live thousand
years ! could not forget the few terrible
moments that | spent in the chest-mo-
OF terror.-BOston Courier