Cañon City record., 1898-07-07
Mrs. Rmes and the Lions
Also Three Little Pigs. Thsir Owner.
and q Boby.
THERE had been for days great
fira in tho forest nm tovyard Onion

| 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 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 i'll 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 a
pine behind the cabin, the little woman
could see long stretch up the path on
which ne must return from his boat,
but she could not see his boathouse nor
the river. It 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 cs 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, ,lettingit ieunhugged on her
lap that 1t 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 il 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 IL is will have 20 stay all night,
/ for it's too late now to go back to the
settlement must hurry in-the man
will want supper"
1t struck her, after a little while. that
she ought 20 have heard the footstep or
voice CT 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 a full-grown cougar, or
/ mountain lion,
She recognized the beast at the first
glance, although she had never seen one
| before. ard in that one dazed glance she
/ wondered IL all wild beasts were SO
/ gaunt and rusty looking.
In the next instant the wild shrek
OF her baby reused her 20 action and
she threw her shoulder against the
\ door Jus, as the rusty. tawny. long
body erouehed. The latch snapped
down; then the door shook as IL from one
blow of a heavy, wadded mallet. and
the thin partition of upright boards
ratified and crcnked. 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 great crash in the
/ kitchen. Nothing but fall of
crockcry could account. for such
noises, and Mrs. AInes knew that her
! plates and cups and saueers- her pre-
| serve dishes, her admired glass pitcher.
| and probably her treasured sirup jug.
| with the German silver top. had all furn-
bled at once from the shelves fastened
| TO the partition. In an instant she was
as angry as II Jered had upset her cher
ished things. her courage came back in
full force. and she pulled open the door
recllessly TO scold at the cougar.
He had been frightened badly al
ready. he had leaped like frightened
en-, out of the kitchen at u bound, hui,
he had not lenped 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 hc"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 htch-
en- looking glass the reflection of the
cougar in the front room cyeing her.
and she screamed AZ Il with such shrill-
ness that the scared beast shrank 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 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 shuffled
around uneasily inside.
"Yes. you can snoop around in there.
knocking my things over" said Mrs.
Ames aloud. and vengefully. but when
Jered comes home he will teach you to
suoop."
She gazed about at the relics of her
beloved crockery. That awful spectacle
made her angrier than ever, and then
she remembered knothole in the par
tition through which, by standing on a
chair, she could watch her foe and taunt
him.
Mrs Ames had one foot on the chair
when fearful scream came from the
cougar in the front room, which was in
stantly answered by just such nro'.c-
broO...---- -. ~, ~ .-->...lon her formid-
able kettle of hot water.
But Mrs. Ames was not out of her
troubles yet. She heard n great claw
ing in the front room. then silence.
and she suspected the truth. Rising on