The Progress., 1898-10-15
THE lUcKIEST SHOT.
Beginning of a Hunters Run of Luck tn.
Brought Two Deer and Two Panthsr.

IhaA
Brought Two Deer and Two Panther,
Fifty years ago when was a lad
said Ira Parmenter, of Potato Crest !
Penn, II was still-huntiug for deer
and I saw doe and fawn leapins
along in an open space, not ten rods
from where the railroad station now
stands at Gardeau. l stood as still q,
any Of the trees around me, for, I saw
that the course the two deer were tax. !
ing would bring them along by a bio
chestnut tree not more than eight rod,
from where I was standing, and cal.
culated that I could bag them both,
As they came by the tree | raised
my gun to shoot the doe, but before
could fire something dropped down
out Of the tree like big branch fall.
ing and landed square on the does
back. It was panther. The doe WAS
crushed to the ground by the weight
of the panther and the force of its lean
and the ferocicus beast instantly had
its teeth fastened in her throat. Tbs
fawn sprang ten feet away into the
thicket. But that panther got little Of
the does blood, for | bored it THROUGH
and through with bullet and charge
Of buckshot almost as soon as it had
borne the deer to the ground. I DOM
know if killed the doe or if she was
dead before my bullet struck her, but
the bullet that killed the panther
lodged also in her vitals.
"The frightened fawn, true to thu
nature Of its kind, came stealing back
after time to look for its mother, and
[ killed it out Of pity more than for
anything else. The panther was
male, and, I believe, the mate of one
that fell victim to what I have called
provldential shot of mine in my camp
shanty the night before. The shanty
was what we used to call face camp.
all open at one side. Noah Parker was
with me, and some time after we had
turned in for the niShta most unearthly
screech, sounding like the cry of per-
son in distress, broke on our ears.
Parker said it was the cry of loon.
After long interval of silence, theory
was repeated nearby. Then there was
silence again, this time SO much nearer
that it seemed to be close to the shanty.
[ asked Noah what we had better do,
as I wouldn't get much sleep if that
terrible screeching was going to be-
kept up around the shanty all night.
"'Fire your gun" said he. Some.
times that will frighten looms away on
the double quick
my gun lay within reach. I took
it up, held it out from my body as
lay on the ground, and fired out of the
shanty. That was the end of the noise.
and Noah said we had scared the loon
so it wouldn't be heard in that locality
for many day. I soon fell asleep,
and it was broad day light when I
woke. I rubbed my eyes and looked
around. Then rubbed them again
and turned cold. for stretched on the
spruce boughs III the shanty and not
six feet away lay panther. 1t was
dead, for rife ball had entered its
eye and come out at the top of its head.
The bullet was the random shot had
fred in the night to frighten away the
supposed loon, and it had killed the
bloodthirsty beast instantly. A second
more, no doubt, and it would have had
its fangs in my throat. Noah Parker
said that was the luckiest shot that
was ever fired in those or any other
woods, and I have always believed that
he was rig ht. New York Sun.