Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1896-02-21

| ~ WITH u lOuu Snout, ne aimed sweep
ing blow at the creatures head. The
panther, startled, sprang away, spit
ting like huge cat, and jumped upon a
projecting ledge, where it turned again
and crouched for spring.
But the moments break had given
Uncle Silas time to act. The Instant
the fierce eyes were taken from his he
wheeled, leaped over the log railing,
and swapping his umbrella wide open,
threw himself far out over the preci-
pice.
The old preacher never forgot the
scream of rage that followed his sud-
den leap. He wondered if his old ,,m-
brella would stand the rush without
turning inside out and dashing him
down among the rocks. Then he saw
Il dark form shoot by him with blood
ourdling yell, saw tree-tops sweep up
in dark mass to meet him, and heard
q crash and thud below.
Meantime he had come down into the
top of scrubby hemlock. The UNI
brella was torn from his grasp, and he
dropped through bending branches
into the snow, where he lay for long
time weak and listless, wondering and
grateful for his strange escape.
A commotion in the underbrush
near brought him to his feet. lie
CROPPED for stick to defend himself.
But the noise was stationary. A con-
| nf I'd II
swapping bushes. With great throb
of thankfulness he realized that it must
be his late terrible enemy, wounded to
death in his last mad spring.
Feeling about in the darkness,
Uncle Silas gathered handful of dead
twigs. These he kindled by the aid
of flint and punk that he always car
ried in his pocket. By this light he
gathered more fuel, and soon bright
blaze was leaping up against the hem
loc.:.
The noise in the underbrush had
grown less as he worked. 1t had almost
ceased when he parted the bushes eau
tiously and peered in. There lay the
panther, struggling feebly.
The force of its wild leap had carried
it well over the tree into which Uncle
Silas had fallen. The branches, strik-
ing it's legs, had thrown it off a cat
Like balance and hurled it among the
rocks.
Uncle Silas turned to find his way
back to Cardiff; for the ravine had
no known outlet on the Dayton side.
But his escape had been so wonderful
that even he would hardly be believed
il he came back without some visible
proof. Besides, he had been fond of
hunting in his younger days; he would
go back with the savage beasts skin.
What triumph il would be to march
into the store, fling down the CORY
pelt and say: See, there is the beast
you have been afraid of SO long!"
And he would add, from the old book
he loved so well: Surely the Lord
hath delivered him into my hands"
So he thought, standing there in the
gloom, peering through the bushes at
the great gray beast.
Selling a hind leg he dragged the
panther in beside the fire, and with his
sharp jackllnife stripped the hide off.
Then he climbed the hemlock after his
battered old umbrella; and with the
panther skin over his shoulders, started
down the ravine.
He was near the place where he knew
a steep path led up the road, and was
cropping about in the thick darkness
to find it, when he was terribly startled
by groan from the brook on his left.
who's there?" he cried, in strange
| ~ high voice, for the sound in that
lonely place had frightened him more
than the panther's scream.
A feeble cry for help was his only
answer; but it was enough to reassure
him. Dropping his burden he FASTENED
forward, shouting encouragement as
he ran.
AT the edge of the brook he stumbled
over something in the snow, and almost
plunged into the icy water before he
recovered himself. The thing groaned,
and in an instant Uncle Silas was bend
ing over it tenderly.
'Who are your" he asked.
I'm Jim Hawkins" was the faii an
swer. Il was hunting and got lost.
At dusk = found road - heard cata-
mount" The form shivered and was
silent.
But what then ?" urged the old man.
u tried to get down the ledge--fe ell
my head - broke leg, l think. |
crawled here to-" Then he tainted.
At daylight Tuesday morning Dea-
con Swain started up the mountain
with his OK team to break out the road.
The good deacon had been troubled in
spirit since he heard of Uncle Silas' de-
parture. His tracks, and those of an
other man that came in from the right,
were the only marks in the snow to
guide the toiling oxen.
But halfway up the mountain other
tracks came out of the woods in lcly,
flying leaps; and the deacon stopped
with fearful start. He had seen the
marks of those big, padded feet once
beforehand in his own yard.
He rushed ahead of the slow oxen,
grasping cart-stakc. Ordinarily he
would have turned back from an en-
counter But the panthers track in
that of the old man he had loved so ong
filed him at once with horror and with
a desperate courage.
He found the bundle in the snow, and
followed the signs of fight with the
dread growing upon him. A groan
seemed wrung from his good heart as
he leaned over the prccipice where the
snow was brushed rudely from the log
railing.