The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1898-05-26
Mrs. hm6S and the Lions
Also Three Little Pigs. Their Owner.
and Body.

so far toward the settlement on the Up
per Nehalem that some of the people
watched it with fear. But to Jered
Ames it was bringing small harvest of
silver, for he was a guide as well as a
freighter on the river, and fire on the
Oregon heights meant game on the low
er, accessible levels. Jered had taken
two parties of hunters up the river al
ready. To-day he was away with the
third, and on his return he must de-
liver three pigs sent to him for a settler
named keegan.
Usually Jered's young wife did not
fret at being left alone with the year
old baby, but now the heat and smoke
oppressed her imagination, and made
her think of the end of the world, and
set her wishing for some neighbor to
talk with. The baby, too, was ill at ease
in the sultry, smoke-scented air, and
cried fretfully as she tried to rock it to
sleep after her early supper.
From her seat, which was under
pine behind the cabin, the little woman
could see long stretch up the path on
which he must return from his boat,
but she could not see his boathouse nor
the river. 1t was possible that he might
come home that evening, and her heart
was sore with longing to see his tall
form striding toward her. 1t was pos
sible, too, that somebody, some messen-
ger or hunter, might come up the path
to engage him as guide or freighter, and
she watched the path lest some stran-
ger should take her by surprise.
While she rocked the little one and
sangtoit, letting ieunhugged onher
lap that it might be the cooler, its cry
ing ceased, and it seemed about to sleep
with its face turned from her. But sud
denly it shrieked as if from some in
stinctive alarm, and turned to her.
clutching with its feeble little hands
and burying its face in her lap The
mother, wondering what had affrighted
the child, stared down the path, and
there saw a moving thing which in
stantly disappeared.
"a dog" she thought. "Somebody's
dog-its owner is coming for Jered
Whoever it is will have to stay all night,
for it's too late now to go back TO the
settlement. I must hurry in-the man
will want supper"
1t struck her, after a little while, that
she ought to have heard the footstep or
voice or knock of the stranger, and she
turned from her tiny looking glass to-
ward the door of the bedroom, beyond
which was the open door of the kitchen.
There stood full-grown cougar, or
mountain lion!
She recognized the beast at the first
glance, although she had never seen one
before, and in that one dazed glance she
wondered if all wild beasts were so
gaunt and rusty looking.
In the next instant the wild shrek
of her baby reused her to action and
she threw her shoulder against the
door just as the rusty, tawny, long
body crouched. The latch snapped
down. then the door shookas if from one
blow of a heavy, wadded mallet, and
the thin partition of upright boards
ratified and creaked. The little woman
stood in mortal terror and the baby,
which had instinctively ceased to cry,
pressed its head to her bosom and
clutched with trembling hands.
For an instant the partition seemed
likely to be pushed down; then the
mother heard the fierce sweep of wild
claws across the boards and then
there was a great crash in the
kitchen. Nothing but a fall of
crocllery could account for such
noises, and Mrs. Ames knew that her
plates and cups and saucers, her pre-
serve dishes, her admired glass pitcher,
and probably her treasured sirup jug,
with the German silver top. had all tum-
bled at once from the shelves fastened
to the partition. In an instant she was
as angry as if Jered had upset her cher
ished things; her courage came back in
full force, and she pulled open the door
recklessly to scold at the cougar.
He had been frightened badly al
ready; he had leaped like frightened
cat out of the kitchen at a bound, but
he had not leaped out of the house.
He had gone the other way. His head
had been toward an open interior door
when the precious crockery fell, and his
leap had sent him into the front ROOM"
where he stood surprised alarmed,
awaiting something dreadful.
: AS angry Mrs. Ames, her baby fright
ened into silence by the noise, opened
the bedroom door, she saw in the hitch
EN- looking glass the reflection of the
cougar in the front room cycling her,
and she screamed at it with such shrill-
ness that the scared beast shranlt into
the dark space between the "chest of
drawers" and the north corner The
small woman understood instantly that
the cougar was frightened, and in the
same instant, slipping forward boldly,
she shut the door of the front room
with a slam.
The other door and the windows of
that room were all closed, and now Mrs.
Ames felt that she was mistress of the
situation. The cougar seemed to feel
so, too; while she listened and peeped at
the keyhole the wild creature shufled
around uneasily inside.
eyes, you can snoop around in there,
knocking my things over" said Mrs.
Ames aloud, and vengefuly, "but when
Jered comes home he will teach you to
snoop."