The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1896-12-04


isphere, is the pet Of little Miss Ethel
Curzon, the 15-year-old daughter of
Captain Henry f. Curzon, late of Her
Majestiy's service.
Damon is a fine, sleek and silken-
haired specimen of his tribe. He was
born three years ago among the pam
pas grass region of South America that
is known locally as La Pampa.
Curzon for years has been in that
country as the representative of an
English syndicate. He arrived in Phil
adelphia the other day accompanied by
his daughter. and the puma came with
them, making the long journey in a
cage that was carried in the baggage
car.
Damon is the dearest creature
next to papa-on earth,' said Miss
Ethel to a reporter. "He saved my
life, and the debt of gratitude l owe
him can never be repaid"
Damon is a puma" said the cap
tain. Here in Pennsylvania the early
settlers knew his congeners under the
name of panther, painter or cata-
mount. In California they call him
the cougar, or mountain lion Dur
ing the past decade and a half of years
l have had an abundant opportunity
to become pretty intimately acquainted
with Sir Puma. The longer l know
him the better like him.
He has been very unfortunate in
his biographers. They give him, it is
true, a high character for courage, but,
at the same time, because of their ig-
norance of his true nature, they -impute
to him a cOWardly fear CT man that
he is very far from possessing. He
will not, as a rule, defend himself
against man, and the gauchos of the
pampas, understanding and appreciat-
ing the mysterious gentle instinct OF
this ungentle beast, call him 'amiogo
del christiano.'
Damon was full grown when we
first became acquainted with him. He
was never captured, and, except when
We are travelling, is never restrained Of
his liberty. ! am on my way back to
my old home in England primarily to
visit my aged parents and incidentally
to place my daughter at school. When
= ~ L oOulu AluC va L oIdll iSdfS
Damon behind. for it would be cruelty
to both to separate him from Ethel.
For the past five y~ears-since the
death of my dear wife-We have been
living at a place called Saladillo, where
l had an ~estancia. My daughter has
been raised to an active, outdoor life,
II She rides a horse with all the
grace and fearIessness Of a gaucho.
Last fall we had a grand %'cerco,' or
assembly Of ranchmen and hunters, to
hunt ostricheS and other game. The
sport is exciting, but far from danger
Gus, and Ethel was one of the party.
The hunters, numbering about thirty,
spread themselves round in a vast ring,
and, advancing toward the center,
drove the animals before them.
During the excitement of the chase
which followed, while we were all en-
gagged in preventing the ostriches, deer,
etc, from doubling back and escaping,
I noticed that my daughter had disap-
peared. Her absence did not alarm me
ut the time, for 1 thought she had be-
come tired and gone back to the estan-
cia. I was nearly frantic when, late at
night, l reached home and found that
Ethel's pony had come galloping home
early in the afternoon without it's
rider. Dreading the worst 1 imme-
diately got together a band of gauchos
and we started out to search for my
darling.
Eventually one of the gauchos
found Ethel in a bunch of scrub, lying
on the ground with a broken leg. Her
pony, early in the hunt, had stepped
into an 'oculto' hole and thrown it's
rider. Being unable to move because
Of her fractured limb, Ethel had shout