Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1892-03-05

e: and there | Law n half-hOur M pore
e; dry and comfortable or;a,,r LII
out upon the storm nov in tho be;rb
of lis furv "S"
At last the clouds rolled ovav I'm
IT, the evening grew no lghtcr and ! saw
a little to nv dismav. that tbc SIM In,
really gone down.
The collie had not vet mt in an mn
nearorcc and Iloro - - ua. ~
heavy rain had washed away the scent
of my trail.
Il If this were actually the case.
should perhaps have to spendthe NIGHT
in the woods, or, at best, so much of il
as might elapse before my relatives
, could locate me by the signals | in
tended to fire, after | should have ex-
hausted every device to extricate N.Y.
self.
felt considerably vexed in thinking
of the anxiety Iny aunt was doubtless
suffering on my account, and was about
to crawl out of my snug retreat. with
the idea of trying to reach the house.
when heard a curious sound near at
hand, and, supposing that the dog had
at last found me, called ont:
Hector, Hector, Here, good dog
here!"
But instead of the iovous barl, 7 ev-
pected to hear in answer, the mvsteri-
Gus sound suddenly ceased altorether
and showing my head Il little way ont
Of the log, | looked wonderingly
around.
One glance was enough. I ouicklv
ierked back to the shelter of NV Lo,t
wood log, for there, at one side and
not six feet from the mouth of INV
refuge, crouched a full prown pnnther
attracted, no doubt, by the scent of the |
game carried as well as by nv own.
But how came the animal there? ONLY |
the night before, when | was inouirino
about the wild beasts to be found in
that part of the country, Uncle Ebep
among other things, assured me that
no panther, ''catamount" or paint
er'-by all of which names he indiHay.
emily designated the American puma-
had been seen in the neighborhood for
the last five years.
Nevertheless, a very fine specimen Of
that identical animal lay watching me
now, exactly as pussy watches the hole
OF a mouse.
did not for a moment mistake the
kind of beast with which | had TO deal.
for, as much by instinct as by the fact
that | had, two years before, seen the
dead body Of one killed by nv father
know it, at first sight, to be a veritable
panther.
If my position had not been so dan.
gerous, it would have been one Of n.
most comical absurditv.
There | was, cooped up in n hollow ,
log, in quarters so strait that | conld ,
not effectively use nv arms. and vet .
daring to come out lest ! shon1d :
be pounced upon in the act-the orrot .
having meantime risen from the =
ground, and being now engaged in a /
series of sportive gambols directly in 4,
of the opening. :,
The creature did not appear to be ot =
all angry as yet, and its antics were .
exceedingly curious and no donbt I
d'verting-to itself. 1t would crouch y
make a light bound to tbo on. !,
of the log, as if intent on drar. u
5ing me forth, and then, whenever r
shouted, spring playfulIy back acain =
n real or pretended alarm, precisely ne Il
iocs the domestic tabbv when tonto. st
izing an unfortunate mouse. ~
This performance, accompanied al Ii
ways by a kind of coaxing, self-satis. -.
led, purring sound, was several times r.
epeated before l had fairly recovered !!
my surprise and determined to -,
AXE the aggressive; for, scared as V
vas, the idea of going home without ="
filing that panther never once oc. 10 =,
urred tome. But how to do it? 81
Although the log itself was n vorv III
irge one, the diameter of the cavitv
n which | lay was certainly not mora VI
han fourteen or fifteen inches. Whor ar
entered it, had first thrown fari in co
~ bag of game, powder-horp ora vi
hot-pouch, and then myself follorrod pl
y crawling slowly backward, with pe
" gun, fortunately muzzle outrrora