The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-08-12

one jaguar were not of the best, per-
haps about even; but with two such
dauntless foes the chances against me
were surely ten to one.
AN EMBARRASSING CHOICE OF
GAME.
While this cat concert" wonderfully
like, yet woefully dissimilar to those Fe
are treated to from our city back fences,
was in progress, L was doing a deal Of
thinking. And this thinking resulted
in my concluding that it would be in
the nature of a cat to quickly pounce
upon an adversary taken off its guard
or otherwise at a disadvantage. If L
could manage to shoot either of the
brutes the unwounded one would Doubt
less attack the other; but yet there was
the danger of the noise of the shot sim
ply frightening the unframed one
away, while the other, if not fatally
wounded, would be dangerous adver-
sary. Suddenly my bloW-gun came to
my recollection, and cautiously looking
about l possessed myself of it and as
sured myself that it was carefully load
ed with a well-poisOned arrow. Then 1
slowly rose to my feet, keeping my
eyes fixed on the beautiful demon be-
fore me, while the violence of the beat
ing tail and the volume of the threat
ening sounds increased very perceptibly.
I knew that if 1 could hit the jaguar in
the open mouth the action of the poison
would be very rapid, although I must
be prepared for a mighty spring in my
direction. Hence, as L slowly raised the
bloWgun to position [ kept my pistol
in my right hand ready for the worst,
and as L fired l made a bound to one
] side away from the direction in which
/ the quarrelsome one of the pair was
hidden.
JAGUAR DRINKS THE BLOOD OF
JAGUAR.
! 1t is we'll 1 did. Almost instantly with
my fire the wounded jaguar, with the
dart firmly embedded in the back of his
mouth, as [ dfterward found, landed
within striking reach of where 1 had
been standing when L fired and IS
though actuated by the same electric
current the other brute landed in the
same spot and on the back Of the first.
which it began to bite and tear in a
frightful manner Then followed bat
+ tie royal indeed-one that it is not given
TO many men to watch. But the odds
were heavily against the wounded beast
as was plain in a very few moments.
The poison is very quick to act, and al
though my nervous tension was terrible
and moments were as hours, it could
not have been long before the unwound-
ed jaguar began to slake his thirst
with the blood of his brother jaguar.
had no salt for him as an antidote for
| the poison.
| Just how much immunity this grant
ed me, or for how long rather, I could
mot tell. Jaguar meat is not natural
/ food for jaguars, and the smell of blood
to say nothing of the frightful noise Oh
/ the encounter might attract a half dOZ-
en- others Of these hungry devils. It
may we'll be imagined, therefore. that
lit was with no slight sense of relief that
i discovered that the day was begin
ming to dawn, and remembered how
quickly the transition from early dawn
| to bright daylight was under the equa-
tor. With the increasing intensity Of
the streaks of gray in the east my cour-
age grew in proportion, and L soon
found myself planning to add the beau
tiful pelt of the living jaguar to my
trophies.
Finding that he simply watched my
movements and only resented my
nearer approach with low growl,
slowly got in an excellent position
where I felt sure of being able to drive
one of my arrows into his eye, and
with my pistol still ready I made my
second shot AS before my position Of
an instant before was Immediately oc-
cupied by the enraged brute. Unlike
/ his victim, he had no enemy of his own
/ to contend with, so that~I at once saw
that he was preparing to spring again.
This was no time to rely on blow-guns,
and the pistol shot that brought him
to earth a quivering mass of paralyzed
energy brought to my aid one of my
guides, for all my troubles, from bed
building to jaguar-killing, had been
within sound of pistol and only my
fear of wasting any more shots had
kept me from finding camp at my last
stop the night before
Today the rug was made from the
skin of the unmutilated jaguar and the
pair of heads. with gaping jaws and
terrible teeth, glaring at each other
from opposite sides of the mantle in
my own ''den" are among my choicest
trophies of all my many adventures,
and are by far the largest ever brought
to terms by my blow-gun, which is
hung above them.