The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1899-07-08
Hunting a Panther.
BY Joseph e. Badger, Jr.
IOHN TAYLOR, wife and family lived

leXaS. lie was poor anu StdTtcu IdTuhihS
in humble way, but, being skillful and
Industrious, he was getting ahead in
the world, when his life and property
wer both swept away by one of those
Mexican forays, even more common
then than now. BY good luck his fam
lily were absent, and thus escaped shar-
ing his fate. Two horses, a wagon and
an old hound, the charred shell of their
log cabin, a few odd tools-these and
the land itself were all that the widow
and her two sons, David and Saul, eight
and ten years of age, had to keep the
wolf from the door.
The neighbors rebuilt the cabin and
gave the lone ones such aid as lay in
their power, but it was one weary,
never-ending struggle for life against
starvation. Yet they did live, and two
years later David and Saul had earned
by night work enough to buy them
selves each rifle and ammunition.
They were too poor not to become
good shots, and the very nature of their
lives rendered them bold and self-reli-
ant. Saul, the oldest, was just 10 years
old when the following incident oc-
Cured:
The deep, mellow baying of hound
came from the underground that
fringed the slender creek, the bell
notes coming at regular intervals.
''He's jumped some critter," cried
David, eagerly.
''It's fresh trail, but he amt sight
ed what made it yet" responded the
older brother. ''Finish ungearin'. 1
don't reckon it's morn a rabbit, or
mebbe wolf"
The sun had already set, and the boys
had put in long and hard days work
behind the pillow, only stopping to eat
a cold lunch for dinner. Any but a
boy with the true spirit of hunter
would not have given the hound sec
ond thought. Home, food and rest
would have been their one desire. But
when the regular, measured bay
changed to a rapid, continuous clangor
the lads turned the horses free to find
their own way home, and, grasping
their never-absent rifles, started away
in the direction of the chase.
Experience told them that the old
hound was after no plebeian game,
and they knew, too, that he was now
running by eye, rather than by scent
alone.
Ere they had run 200 yards there
came a fierce yelping cry, snarl, the
sounds of sharp if short scuffle, then,
at brief intervals, the excited bark of
the old hound.
They knew that the game had turned
at bay, that old Hector had dashed in
and been beaten off, and that he was
now calling for help to secure the
quarry which he had brought to a
standstill-a stag, huge timber wolf,
or some yet nobler game; if anything
less awaited them the hound would
never have been driven off once he had
closed with it.
You can imagine the emotions which
swelled the bosoms of these lads as
they rushed forward at top speed.
They were too eager. The game
heard their hasty footsteps and turned
to seek safety in renewed fight, old
Hector close upon its heels. Saul
caught one glimpse of the long gray
body as it glided across the open
ground, and, throwing forward his
rifle, made a snapshot, fearing he
nigh not get another chance.
At the sharp report the animal leaped
far ahead, as though sharply stung, and
Saul saw by the fresh blood upon the
dry grass that his lead had not been en-
tirely wasted, and the boys pressed on
with renewed energy, guided by the ex-
cited yelping of the old hound.
"We1l get him yeti" painted Saul.
Hes takin' to Split hill, I'm most sar-
in"
''What was it? couldn't see."
"A gray wolf, 1 reckon. Whalin' big
,ne, though"
No more was said. A steady run OF
mile, carrying heavy rifle, is no easy
task even for man. Fortunately the
end of the run was near at hand. Once
more old Hector set up series of rap
id, excited yelpings. The game was
brought to bay, driven to earth, or else
freed.
Split hill was natural curiosity, and
doubly remarkable from being situated
in the midst of low, fiat region, where
mole-hill is almost mountain. I'm
agine perfect cone, 100 feet high, split
directly in half from apex to base, and
one portion of it entirely obliterated
leaving the other portion a solitary
monument upon the level, sandy plain
The cliff thus formed was of barren al
most solid rock, not even a vine clinging
to its face. The rounded side was toll
erably well covered with stunted trees
bushes and vines.
From the extreme summit of thi.