The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-24
THE YOUNG COUGAR tanner.
. STRANGE GIFT POSSESSED By AN
ARIZONA BOY.


In the early days of Arizonas history,
Desmits hacienda was the only human
,abifation for miles along the Rio Verde
Desmit kept huge droves of merino sheep
and better still, kept at peace with the
Nooui. Yavapai and Salt River Indians.
who ruled in that valley and in contigu-
Gus territory.
Dowie Desmit, the only son of the pro-
nrietor. while yet in his teens, came to
love the lonely life of a herder He had
never been known to carry a gun, but
was the friend of every living thing which
inhabited the desert lands of the Verde.
Even the mettled, half-mad bob-cats-a
species Of small lynx-of the river lodges
and cave dwellings, which ran splitting
and brisJling away from our intruders,
avoided Dowie in half-pacife, sinking
fashion. The boy was by nature a tanner
of beasts, with arts peculiar to himself,
insidious and persistent. He had many
nets among the wild things, some of them
old and uncanny enough. Among the nu-
merous hollowed-out lodges under the
rock lodges of the Verde Dowie became
time habitation in one of the walled-in
pocket dwellings haunted by bobcats,
by lizards and chameleons, and even by
cougars.
In one of the largest of these old cave
rooms, with an unusually high roof, Dowie
had his hermitage Here, fronting a con-
siderable terrace of earth and debris, he
played with his odd pets and curiosities.
Meantime the sheep, which needed no
more care than he gave, strayed upon the
mesa or the river flats. A bob-cat, chain
ed to the staple in the wall of the cave;
a family of prairie dogs, which he had
domiciled upon the terrace; an owl or two,
chameleons, horned toads, lizards and
harmless snakes-such We're his pets. His
''menagerie" was an inexpensive one-only
the bob-cat had TO be fed with refuse from
the hacienda table. The rest even the
owls, roamed freely; simply lived in their
haunts on familiar terms with their tam
Ell.
Only one thing was wanting to complete
his happiness; he must have a cougar. In
the rear of the ledge, fronting a wild,
rough canon a pair of cougars had their
lair in the deep recesses of a cavehouse.
While DOwie had never dared to enter
their den, he had known them long, and
J3aid them visits after a fashion. He had
learned their daytime habits pretty well,
and had no fear of them outside of their
lair. Cougars attack only at night, and
even then they rarely approach man.
SO on certain ,sunshiny days, when the
air of the caverns was a little cooL he
went cautiously to visit his cougar friends,
sure of finding the sleek old pumas asleep
or counterfeiting sleep for they had
doubtless heard his cautious footballs far
around the ledge. They lay stretched upon
a jutting shelf of rock within two or
three leaps of their cave-lair's mouth. He
had learned also TO be just as sure of
the manner of his reception.
As he stole softly up the ancient path
way and came into view at thirty steps
distance, the male cougar would lift its
head and snarl in deep, warning fashion,
showing rows of beautiful teeth, while the
female would lie, at first, with nose be-
tween her paws, apparently asleep. Then
Dowie would seat himself upon boul-
der, and the male puma would rise upon
its launches, yaWn as if bored, and snarl
more gently, as if partly pleased by the
visitors pacific disposition. Then, as her
mate grew quiet or gnawed at the fleas
upon it's TANKS, the female would take
her turn in terrific snarling. Without
raising her head, she would fatten her
ears and begin in a low hoarSe voice,
sapping her tail viciously upon the rock,
and raise her terrible voice in a quaver-
ing crescendo, until the air fairly shook
with her shrill cry; then she would break
off more suddenly than she began, repeat
the performance two or three times, and
again lie inert, with closed eyes and sleepy
Visage.
Then Dowie would begin. He would
lean toward the cougars, throw all his
soul into his eyes and voice, and Groom in
wheeling, honeyed accents:
"Oooee, eooee, oooee, mooee, mooee,
mooey, poorly coogars, oogars oogars'
Presently the male cougar, too, would
slowly stretch his great length upon the
rock and close his eyes. There would be
no more threats or movements on their
part until DoWie had finished his perform
ance which sometimes he prolonged for
half an hour. Then, as the young tanner
attempted to steal away-pretending to
leave the brutes asleep-both would rear
their heads and yagger at him with feroc-
lily. All this time the boy would be per-
4ectly aware that a sudden leap toward
them, or any startling movement on his
part, would send the cougars jumping into
the black mouth of their cave lair. There,
in fact, they had for a long time, taken
sudden refuge on his appearance. Final
ly his insidious advances had prevailed
against their alarm, and they had ceased
al least to fear him-at a proper distance.
DoWe felt that he was making Roadway
with the big cats. He said nothing at
home about his adventures with them, but
ms busy brain canvassed many schemes
lor their capture or subsection. With the
help of old Manuel Chaves, a Mexican
sAeep shearer and roustabout, who, with
ms wife, lived at the hacienda, big stones
could be fetched up from below to wall
lAe cougars up, but would Manuel give
tne help and keep still about it? Dowie
concluded not, and he knew that his faith
'f Desmit, would like nothing better than
TO fetch his Winchester and watch for
I"e cougars, to pay them off for sheep
losses which Dowe knew to have been
Que to wolves
90 matters ran on for year. Then one
Apill day Dowie mounted the terrace
pom to the cougars cave, and found the
u'ae alone, very wide awake, and on
eUafd upon its rock. The animals dem
ousuauous were truly frightful, and 1t
leluSed to be wheedled into any appear
cue OF amity or indifference. There were
Souus cougars, newly arrived kits, in the
cavern. Dowie knew it. They both re-
1eated cautiously, throbbing with excite
Hleht and citation.
b"o weeks later he had matured a plan
S oHu was prepared for action. At the Ran