The Iuka vidette. (Iuka, Miss.) 1894-1912, 1895-02-07

new weapon eagerly. but found that i !
was still fast by its roots to the
ground. violent wrench, however,
broke it loose, and roots and all he
hurled it at his unknown antagonist.
The strange animal sprang out OF
the way; and the boy, with unstrung
nerves, returned to the road. For the
time being all thought of his errand
had gone, and he turned back again
toward Ames, meanwhile keeping a
bright lookout. Presently he saw the
animal come down again into the road
behind him and follow at distance
of twenty or thirty yards. Ii was al
most the color of the sandy road, and
when it stopped, as it did from time to
time, he could in no wise distinguish it
from its surroundings.
1t was all that the boy could do to
keep from running. He felt an indie
scribable apprehension and terror, but
| common sense told him that the ami
NAL could easily catch hin, in a few
leaps, once he started to run, and that
the only thing to do was to put on a
| bold front: SO he walked along leisure
| ly, to simulate Indifference and mean
while tried to choke his heart back
again where it belonged. Presently
he reached the house, walked in and
sat down. Fearing ridicule, he did not
say anything about his adventure, bu
merely explained that, as it was Later
had decided to wait to get the AK IT,
the morrow. He had u very good idea
as to the identity of the strange ami.
NAL, but he determined not to say any
thing till he had some proof with which
to substantiate his assertions.
| The following morning Mart's ia cher
had an errand up the road, and Mart
started out in company with him. Nose
Ames also joined them. A short dis
tance from the house they discovered
tracks of some wild animal in the sand.
The tracks were very large, and Ames
said they had been made by bear, but
the elder Moody shook his head. As
they proceeded the tracks became
more and more abundant and they
saw where the animal had repeatedly
crossed and recrossed the road. Pres
emily, following the tracks, they
climbed out of the road and looked
into u neigh boring field. There their
attention was attracted to a 2-year-old
colt lying down. They walked over to
it and found it would never rise again.
On it's neck were small punctures
made by the sharp teeth of some beast
of prey, and just over the large vein
a piece of flesh was bitten out. The
colts slayer had evidently sucked his
| blood and then departed.
Mart, now that the evidence was
with him, felt no hesitancy in telling
his story, and it was generally con
ceded that the strange animal, which
the old hunters now agreed was a
catamount, would have preferred the
boy to the colt and had only taken the
latter when the former was out of his
reach. Mart had had narrow escape
and felt duly elateG over his adven-
ture.
1t was thought unlikely that the
catamount would come back again to
the scene of its late violence, but new
ertheless the elder Moody determined
to have n surprise in store for it in
case it should; and he spent the rest
of the day in artfully setting a large
bear trap for it's reception. The next
day, however, greatly to Mart's joy,
the trap was gone, and only n broken
clog remained to bear witness to what
had transpired. The old hunters at
once set out in pursuit of the doubly-
dyed villain, who had not only killed
their colt, but who now threatened to
steal from them a bear trap worth
twenty dollars.
Its trail was easily followed, for the
trap had torn up the ground in many
places, and at the end of ten minutes
brisk walk the hunters suddenly came
in sight of the catamouut. 1t had at
tempted to cross a large uprooted tree
and in SO doing had caught the trap
in crotch, and in its efforts to es
cape had fallen in such position thas
it was impossible for it to release it