Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1899-05-19


disobey King. For another, they liked
Pat, and having a firm faith in his hoo
doo," were convinced that his shoot
ing" and sudden death would be syn
onymous terms. So Pat abandoned per-
suasion and tried craft.
The old shaft on which he and Bob
had first begun work had been carried
down so feet. Appropriate cross cuts
and drifts had been made to exploit the
lead. Tt was now abandoned. Bob and
Pat were put to work at another spot
in the same lead little farther along
the ridge. The place marked out for
the first blast was between two huge
powders, or rather between the two
rounded cheeks of one bowlder. The
passage between them was perhaps five
or six feet wide. One end led out in a
gradual descent to the broad, open park
of the ridge top, the other dropped off
abruptly three or four feet to another
level place. Around the corner of the
first the miners kept their tools and
forage; down the second they planned
to drop when the blast was fired; and
there they had built little fire, it be-
ing, on that particular day, in the lee of
the rock.
The hole had been all drilled before Bob
discovered that he had forgotten to
bring any powder; SO, cursing, he
started down the passage to get some
from the sheet-iron powder house in the
draw. Hardly was he out of sight be-
fore Mccain, chuckling softly to him
| SELF pulled from under shelving bit
of rock the missing powder. With this
he loaded the hole; he arranged the
fuse, and then dropped down the ledge
to get brand from the fire. 1t was
nearly out, so it took few moments to
| start torch. However, he was in no
hurry, as it was some little distance to
| the powder house, and Bob could not
possibly return inside of half an hour.
At last he coaxed a bit of pine into
glow, and turned to climb back. A
startling sight met his eyes.
| When Bob went to get the powder
| he stopped at the forge for the water
| pail. AS he stopped to pick it up, some
| thing struck him a sudden blow in the
thigh that knocked him over and set
the blood f1owing-he said afterward he
thought the bone was broken. When
he could see, he looked about to find
what had hit him, and discovered not
ten feet away the long, tawny body Of
a puma.
The great cat lay watching him
through half-shut eyes, lazily switch
ing it's tail back and forth. From the
depths of it's throat came deep rumb-
| ling purr. He tried to rise, but could
not. Then he turned over on his LETT
side and started to crawl painfully
| through the passageway Of the rocks.
| The beast opened its eyes and followed
| cfo or CT eli itDI,-
ing it's tail, and still purring. 1t was in
| a spOrtive mood, and played with it's
prey as cat plays with mouse. Inch
by inch the man pulled himself along,
leaving a trail of blood. At last. within
a few feet of the ledge, he stopped; he
could go no further. The puma, too,
paused.
/ At this moment Pat Mccain, a blaz-
ing pine brand in his hand, looked over
| the ledge. Bob saw him and family
| warned him back. The puma saw him
too. The purring ceased, and the 1.-the
muscles frightened under the skin. The
game was over. The animal was pre-
pairing to make its spring.
1t did not occur to the little Irish
mans fighting soul to retreat. His
comical features stiffened; his little
blue eyes fairly snapped. Slowly he
drew himself up on the ledge, keeping
his eye fixed on the puma, until he
| stood erect, then he shifted his brand
mechanically into his left hand, and
drew his sheath-knife. He did not
know that the fire was his best weapon,
and Bob was too weak to tell him. The
brand. held point downward, began to
blaze. The puma's great eyes shifted
uneasiiy at this, and it's muscles re-
Taxed. 1t was evidently discomposed.
Pat did not await the attack, but
stepped forward, holding his knife
firmly.
When within few feet of the animal
Pat hesitated and stopped. His nerve
was still mistaken, but he did not know
how to begin. The puma still shifted
uneasily at the blaze, but had recovered
from its first fear, and was again gath
ering its powers for spring. For a
moment there was absolute silence. and
Pat heard through the still air the sharp
chatter of a squirrel and the clank of
the ore-team's whiff1etrees from the
ore road far below. While he stood thus
uncertain, the fire from the pine, hav-
ing run up along the torch, began to
burn Pats fingers. Without moving his
head or shifting his eyes, he dropped it
gently-plumb upon the fuse he had
SO carefully arranged a few moments
before. Then he took step backward
to avoid the smoke. There was a splut-
ter and flash, then a sudden roar. The
, man and the beast were hurled Violent
~ in opposite directions, and a vol
cano of rock shot high in the air and
showered down again.
The ax-gang found the puma very
dead and Pat very hard to revive. The
whislxy-and-water method brought him