Alpena argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1893-1909, 1893-04-19
SAVED BY A PANTHER.

| WIN ilNOo III wiz t|oaAsss $780,
aims in Arizona, has the strangest
hunting companion on record. 1t
nothin g more nor less than a live
wild panther that could kill him in
moment, and, on the other hand,
that Nohl has had dozens of chances
of exterminating.
The beast is his as far as hunting
trips are concerned, but in no other
way. The two have been on over
100 trips together, and the man has
never had his hand on the animal
but once, but that was the time the
mysterious tie between the two was
created. Man and beast seem to
understand each other, although
Nohl could not tell you how if it
was to save his life.
The day of their first meeting
was about two years ago. Nohl
was out hunting and had run down
grizzly, at which he got good
shot that rolled the animal over
The man thought the bear was
killed and ran up to it for the pur-
pose Of SHINING it. Bruin lay
very still, but he was far from be-
ing dead, or even sleeping, says the
San Francisco Call.
Nohl laid his rife OH the ground
and drew his knife preparatory to
making the first incision. 1t was
a magnificent animal, and the hum
ter could not help admiring it. He
walked around it several times
with his knife in his hand, congrat-
ulating himself on the good days
work he had done, and finally drop
ped on his knees by its side for the
purpose of going to work.
He felt among the soft fur for
good place and then stuck his knife
into it. The cold steel had no
sooner touched the beasts skin than
it jumped up, knocking the knife
out of Nohl's hand and surprising
him so much as to almost deprive
him of consciousness. The bear
no sooner gained his feet than he
jumped on his would-be dissector.
The man was helpless, an d it would
have been the work of only few
moments for the maddened animal
to make an end of him. Nohl
reached out for his knife as soon as
he OWNED the animals intention,
but it was too far away. There was
no use in making fight, so Nohl
lay face down on the ground to
keep the bear away from his throat
as long as possible. Bruin took
hold of his enemy and made great
effort to get his paws around him,
so that he could crush him to death.
He nearly succeeded, and at the
same time was attempting to swallow
Nohl's head. 1t seemed as if it
could last only moment more, but
just then another actor appeared Oh
the scene.
1t was panther, and he went
for the bear tooth and nail, and in
an instant took it's attention from
the man. When it sprang it got
on the bears back, and there it
stuck, biting and scratching fierce
ly. Nohl had not been hurt to
amount to anything, so he got on
his feet and took hand in the
fight.
By the time he was ready for
business things were looking bad
for the panther, which had been
shaken from the bears back and
was making hot fight face to face.
In time the bear would have had
the best of it, but Nohl put stop
to the contest by sending ball in
to its heart at short range. It rolled
over at once, dead this time beyond
any hope of recovery.
As the bear rolled over the pam
Their let go and walked to one side,
looking at the bear curiously.
Nohl's first impulse was to turn his
rife on it and thereby increase his
days work; but an instant's reflect
ion caused him to change his mind.
He knew that the panther had risk.
ed it's life to save his, and he con-
cluded to let it go unless it attacked
him. But this the panther had no
intention Of doing, nor has it ever
shown any inclination to do so
since.
AS soon as Nohl made up his
mind that he was safe from the pan
Their he went to work to skin the
bear. This time there was no trou-
BILE and the sharp knife soon had
the skin nicely spread out. While
the work was going on the panther
lay on the ground few feet away
watching Incorporation. He seemed
pleased with all that had been done,