The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1900-02-21
Besieged by Panthers
On a Canyons Ledge.


rious fascination in watching the beast
as he took his promenade. forgot
my pains as / rejoiced over his blind
ness. Had he been possessed of his
natural vision-could he have but seen
ever so little-he would have sprung
upon me, fastened those yellow fangs
in my throat, and in 30 seconds all
would have been over. But he was
blind, and / hoped he could not dis
cover my presence if l remained
quiet.
Of a sudden there was an alarm.
The snow was falling more thickly,
but the beast was so near that could
catch his every movement. AS the
wind whirled up the ravine it created
an eddy, and from one of the circles
OF this eddy he got my scent. Stop
ping midway in his promenade, he
reared up and shifted the air with saw
age growls, and my heart beat so hard
that it seemed as if he must surely
hear it and follow the sound until his
hot breath was on my face. Sniff
snuif-growl! To the right, to the
left, straight ahead. After a minute
he lost the scent, and then he stood
stock still and uttered continuous
growls as he waited to catch it again.
No, not like a statue. His long tail
swept the ground in half circle, and
his ears worked swiftly back and forth.
Blind death waiting to rend and bite
and tear and kill After minute he
got the scent again. He reared up,
whirled about three or four times as
If on pivot, and then he pointed full
at me. A tape line Is feet long would
have covered the ground between us
between whore L lay helpless and he
half crouched for spring. IL the film
could be torn from those sightless
eyes, how they would CLINT and glitter
and blaze! There was something in
the sound of his low growing which
chilled my blood-a menace, warn
ing of what was to come, which forced
me to shut my eyes and utter last
prayer. Why does he hesitate? What
delays his spring? He waited so long
that / argued it out that bis blindness
reasoned against his ferocity. He
had been blind for year or two per-
haps. He had never left the cave
alone except to move up and down
over that one route, and he probably
feared n fall into the ravine il he ven
tured spring. But he finally made
up his mind to try it if the scent held.
l could tell that by his continuous
growls, by the ears laid fiat back on
his head, as you have seen in an angry
cat; by the click of his claws on the
finty rock as he sought foothold for
spring. AS he was on the point of
taking the leap the capricious breeze
played him trick. He suddenly lost
the scent and walked slowly down the
shelf to pick it up again, perhaps rea-
soning that l had moved my position.
Ten feet to the right he got it, and
with fierce snarl he crouched and
made the leap.
Did the beast know the lay of the
ground before losing his eyesight, or
was 1t the subtle instinct given to the
feline tribe? 1t was a clear leap OF
10 feet-maybe foot or two more.
Only at that spot could he strike the
shelf on which / stood. He rose in
the air like n bird taking fight, de-
scribed a graceful half-curve in the
air, and landed so lightly that / felt
rather than heard him. He was ten
feet away from me, and he reared up
and snufied at tho air in every direc-
tion. Up to that instant my broken
ribs had given no pain. All OF a sud-
den it seemed as if knives were cutting
into the flesh, and had to clench my
hands and shut my teeth hard to pre-
vent scream from passing my lips.
But for the wind and the snow the
beast must have got my scent so close
at hand. There was such swirl that
he was at fault, and he did not walk
along the ledge. On the contrary, after
about two minutes, he leaped back
across the ravine and disappeared into
his den. Then, with many a groan
and half-snppressed ejaculation, /
drew myself back until / rested
against the cliff. / knew that my
ribs were broken, and that unless dis
covered by accident l could never
leave that ledge alive. 1t certainly
had set in for snowstorn, and it took
only few moments almost to hide me
from sight under the white mantle.
This was my salvation again. As the
pain made me half unconscious, full
grown female panther, followed by
cub which may have been year old,
scrambled down the rocks on the op-
posite side Of the ravine to the den of
the blind beast. Some taint OF my