The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1892-04-28

Nor did care cent shout getting
drenched by the heavy rain, now begin
ming to patter on the leaves, but / dis
liked to have my beloved gum and pow
der wetted, and SO looked hastily about
for shelter, quickly finding perfect
one in the shape Of . great hollow
Eastwood log for, Of course, the forest
contained many trees besides beeches),
into which showed myself, feet first,
and there lay half-hour or more,
dry and comfortable, quietly looking
out upon the storm now in the height
Of its fury.
At last the clouds rolled away. but
the evening grew no lighter, and saw,
little to my dismay, that the sun had
really gone down.
The collie had not yet put in an APP
pearance, and j Logan to fear that the
heavy rain had washed away the scent
Of my trail.
II this were actually the case, !
should PERHAPS have to spend the night
in the woods, or, at best, SO much of it
as might clapse before my relatives
could locate me by the signals l in
tended to fire, after should have ex-
hausted every device to extricate my
self
felt considerably vexed in thinking
Of the anxiety my 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 curious sound near at
hand, and. supposing that the dog had
at last found ME, called out:
Hector, Hectorl Here, good dog
here!''
But instead of the. joyous bark / ex-
pected to hear in answer, the mysteri-
Gus SCUM ! suddenly ceased altogether,
and showing my head little way out
OF the log, looked wonderingly
around
One glance was enough. I quickly
jerled back to the shelter Of my bass
wood log, for there, at one side and
| not six feet from the mouth of my
refuge, crouched full grown panther,
attracted, no doubt, by the scent Of the
game carried as well as by my own.
But how came the animal there? Only
the night before, when l was inquiring
about the wild beasts to be found in
that part of the country. Uncle Eben,
among other things, assured me that
no panther, "catamount or paint
er'-by all of which names he indiffer-
emily designated the American puma
had been seen in the neighborhood for
the last five years.
| Nevertheless, very fine specimen of
that identical animal lay watching nfe
now, exactly as pussy watches hehole
/ of mouse.
| did not for a moment mistake the
Kind of beast with which l 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 my father,
know it, at first sight. to be averitable
| panther.
If my position had not been so dam
gerous, it would have been one of al
most comica1 absurdity.
There l was, cooped up in hollow
log in quarters SO strait that could
not effectively use my arms, and yet
not daring to come out lest should
be bounced upon in the aet--the great
|
ground, and being now engaged in a
series of sportive gambols directly in
| front of the opening
The creature did not appear to be at
all angry as yet, and its antics were
I exceedingly curious and no doubt
d.verting-t itself. 1t would crouch
Flow, make light bound to the en-
trance of the log, as if intent on drag
ging me forth, and then, whenever /
shouted, spring playfully back again
in real or pretended alarm, precisely as
does the domestic tabby when tanta-
lizing an unfortunate mouse.
This performance, accompanied al
ways by kind of coaxing self-satis-
fed, purring sound, was several times
repeated before had fairly recovered
from my surprise and determined to
take the aggressive; for, scared as
was, the idea Of going home without
killing that panther never once &C.
Cured to me. But how to do it?
Altf ough the log itself was very
large one, the diameter of the cavity
in which lay was certainly not more
than fourteen or fifteen inches. When
l entered it, had first thrown far in
my bag OF game, powder-horn and
shot-pouch, and then myself followed
by crawling slowly backward, with
my gun, fortunately muzzle outward,
pressed close to my side.
Now, / could turn over and over in
the hollow quite easily, and, to GER
tain extent, use my limbs, but my
arms were necessarily stretched
straight along my body, and it was
only after many strenuous efforts that
succeeded in bending my right elbow
\ far enough to enable that hand to
grasp the stock and trigger-guard of
the gun after had worked it forward
inch by inch, ana at last got the butt
against my shoulder, as lay, face
downward, well within the log.
| The barrel projected some inches be-
yond the mouth of my stronghold, and
the next time my playful besicger
made one of hisgraceful bounds, his
great whiskered mouth almost touched
the muzzle. The piece was loaded
only with No. 5 shot--it being impos-
sible for me in my then predicament
to slip down bullet-but knew that
nothing was more effective at such
close range. and when l pulled the
trigger, with the end of the tube point
8 Z1A4|uIst\ M|g yo,,,.