The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1896-09-18
FIGHT WITH A TIGER"
BH w. THOMSON.

At one period of my somewhat ad-
venturous life, and when many years
younger than now, | was engaged in the
then lucrative business of mahogany
cutting in British Honduras, my camp
being situated on the headwaterS OF
QueSada river, a small affiuent of the
Belize, by which route our logs We're
floated to the port of the same name
for shipment To Europe.
Though this valuable timber more
particularly abounds in the hilly, semi
mountainous regions of the country,
exceedingly large individual trees are
occasionally found in the densel y wood
ed valleys, and these giant specimens
are SO highly priced that it often pays
to cut a special road through the
tangled, Vine-enlaced forest to each one.
Now it one time happened that the
Liverpool dealers to whom my ship
lnents were usually consigned request
ed me to send them at any cost as many
Of these eNtTa-siZed logs as | could Oh
tain up to certain date. Such were
not to be found in the immediate neigh
Eorhood of our camp, however. Hence
| one morning mounted my favorite
saddle mule and rode toward FL
Demonio valley, some ten miles away,
which my half-breed foreman assured
Ine contained a considerable number of
extraordinarily fine, though scatter
ing. trees.
This place, | was told had been
christened FL Demonio (the devi) val
ley by the superstitious natives, not
only because of its gloomy, wild-heast
infested character, but also because
there was connected Herewith an old
blood d-curdling legend as to the COM
I.lete and sudden humiliation of its
;:ncient ipha bitantS-a gruesome and,
probably, wholly apocryphal tale, too
long to repeat here.
After a weary ride over rugged hills
and through lonely, bruSh-encumbered
r.svines, 1 arrived at the edge of the
valley, and, securing my mule by u
trebled. unbreakable lariat to a tree,
in comparatively open spot, set ous
IL explore the forest, which in some
places was SO matted and intergrown
with clinging parasites as to he almost
imp+rNiouS TO human passage, and alb
soluteIy So To the suns cheering rays.
In this region of nearly constant rain,
the swcltermg, torrid heat of the low
lying valley was SO oppressive that to-
avoid the labor of carrying II, | very
foolishly left my repeating rifle
strung To the saddle, and took with me
only the revolver belted to my waist, IL
flask of water and light AK; the lai-
ter for the double purpose of putting
i'rJ emption marks on selected trees AMI
blazing" "A line by which | might,
" hen ready to leave, find my way out of
tins wondrous wilderness of semi
tropical growth.
For nearly three hours, occasionally
climbing lofty tree to gain better
view of my surroundings, | toiled
through those terrible woods, and did
succeed in finding 2l remarkably large,
straight mahoganies, the least of which,
when brought to port, would be worth
hundreds of dollars. Then, fearfuliy
tired, and hungry a wolf, | turned
back to rejoin the mule, in whose pan
ner was stored generous supply of
food
So far no rain had fallen this day, but
now heavy, black clouds obscured the
sky, and | knew by the deadly stiffness
of the sitting atmosphere that | should
shortly he caught in one of those tre-
mendous downpours characteristic of
the country. Though good drenching
was not likely to hurt me at all, the
rain would inevitably fill the open
mouthed haversack, and reduce to 4
pulp the bread-and-biscuitp part of my
lunch, besides spelling the modicum of
tea and sugar which had brought along
with the intention of building IA little
fire and brewing pannikin of refresh
ing drink to go with my meal. Hence,
| pressed with desperate energy through
the thick underground, hoping to reach
the mule in time to cover those perish
able articles with waterproof cloak,
which was strapped behind the saddle.
In those forest depths the light had
been dim enough even when the sky was
clear but now, though it was only two
o'clock in the afternoon, so dark a pail
settled down upon the scene that ]
could hardly distinguish, among their
countless fellows, the blaZed saplines
which were my only guide out of the
labyrinth.
In addition to this untimely gloom
there brooded over all a silence so pro-
found that not few wild denizens of
the woods, believing that night hal
come, began to steal softly from their
Iairs in search of prey. Several of the
creatures approached 50 close as To
catch a glimpse of my intruding form,
vvhereupon they noiselessly skunk away;
but / was fated to discover that all these
nocturnal providers were not so timid-
While the threatening deluge was Yet
in allowance 1 came to the edge of th,.
small, open space where stood the mule.
and saw. to my surprise, that the usual
" docile animal WAS, with fright-dis-
tended eyes, straining frantically back
ward on his tether, as if bound to break
away. Supposing that he, thus left
alone, was merely alarmed by the omin-
Gus weather signs, l cheerily called
out:
whoa, Petei Whoa, good fellow; it's
all right"
On hearing my voice, the sagacious
beast ceased to pull, and stood quietly,
though still gazing intently ahead, and