The morning news., 1897-08-22

after | had heard the beast breaking
twigs on his way through the woods that
| scraped enough courage to lift my head
from the leaves and peek out. ! couldn't
see the panther anywhere around, so ]
got up. / looked in every direction, but
the animal could not be seen ! thought
to myself that I'd see the panthers game
before | left the place. 1t had this far
been the queerest proceeding / ever hear
of. A panther generally jumps on man,
takes a mouthful out of his back and
tears him apart with his claws. | found
a log about my length, put it on the
ground where l had been and covered it
up with the leaves and moss the panther
had thrown on me. Then / took my gun
and climbed up tree about 100 feet away
to watch what happened.
Il didn't have great while to wait. In
about an hour l heard a noise, about 100
yards away, and in a minute l saw the
panther emerge from the uuderbrush and
walk out into a break. | looked closer
and saw two small panthers, trudging
along by her side. All. l said the thing
expects to give its children a good feed
on me- l wondered what would happen
when the panther found it had been beat
en- at its game. The three panthers walk
ed slowly up TO the pie of caves ana the
old one never even smelled of the heap to
see if any one had tampered with il. Then
came the most amusing programme /
ever dreamed of.
ITO begin with, the old panther crouch
ed and sprang at the pile. BY neat shift
it landed with its fore feet just on the
edge of the leaves When il finished one
of the young ones did the same thing.
Then the third one had a turn The
youngsters We're about the size of a shep-
herd dog, and they were The most gracE-
full animals ] ever saw. They stood back
sometimes twenty feet from the pile,
4 afr-nmN
on the border of the heap | was supposed
to be in. once, one of them slipped and
fell on its side, and the old one struck it
with its paw as a kind or punishment. The
little one cried and tried again. This
thing went - for nearly haf an hour.
l could easily have killed tie old panther,
but l was so Interested in the g0ings-on
that l forget to shoot. In fact. ] hated TO
spoil the exhibition. Whoever before had
seen a panther teach its children how 20
leap?
Finally the old panther punched the
young ones back and crouched about 30
feet back from the pile'I II then made a
jump and cleared the pile without touching
a leaf of it. il was just playing off for the
benefit of the little panthers. The next
time it crouched again about the same dis
tance back ana made another leap This
time ! knew would be thesend. 1t came
down with its hind feet tight to its body
and its fore feet spread forward. Il made
a screech when it leaped like an Indian
going to battle. When it struck the leaves
and moss flew. The log cracked. The pan
tner howled so loud you could have heard
it 10 miles away. Then it looked up and
howled again. 1t was mad because 1t had
been defeated 1t took il just a second to
smell the scent and with bound of nearly
80 feet it made for the tree ! was in. | had
my gun at my shoulder When the big ami
NAL stopped beneath the tree 60 make
sure | was there, 1 pulled the trigger. The
panther screeched and tried to leap into
the tree. | shot again and the beast fell
down and tried to crawl away. ] watched
il struggle a few minutes and when il was
still got down out of the tree.
Il had almost forgotten about the young
ones. No sooner had 1 reached the ground
than the two baby panthers rushed up TO
the side OF their parent and stood guard
over il. They did not attack me but when
/ approached the dead panther they snarl-
ed and paved with their front feet / had
to kill them both
Il found my way to Jim HoughtOns
camp five miles away and Jim ana ] car
ried the body of the panther to his camp.
We left the little ones The old one meas
ured II feet from the end Of its nose TO the
end of It's body. Jim has its skin in his
shanty now"