The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1900-05-05
could hear a gurgling sort Of Z gasp

could hear a gurgling sort of = gasp
after the yell was finished. as the anil
NAL took a quick breath. The moon
had set. and George vas quite in tho
dark till he came out into the circle
of light, reused instantly from his
sleep. I was struck by the CHASTITY
pallor of his face. as he no doubt was
by mine If he took time to notice 1t.
He ran to get his axe, stuck in a log
close by, and l took up the gun and we
both stood in front of the fire and
waited for something to happen.
ga few more of those yells, each one
seemingly a little nearer, and l could
endure it no longer. Plucking up a
little courage, I stepped around be-
hind the leanto and fired both barrels
of the shotgun up into the air, think
ing in that way to brighten away our
tormentor. 1t seemed to have a con
trary effect. Almost simultaneously
with the discharge of the seconl bar
rel, with a short but awfully piercing
yell, the brute jumped toward the
place where l stood from his standing
place. thirty or forty feet back in the
bushes, and landed so near me that I
only very dimly by the light OF the fire
actually felt on my face some of the
dirt he kicked up when he landed. The
leap was so sudden and unexpected
that l was, for the moment, paralyzed
with fright and stood like a dummy,
waiting for him to seize me, as I fully
expected he would. l could see him
behind me. for you know how one is
bothered when going away from a
light and looking at once into the
darkness beyond. Within a few Sec
onds my wits returned, and I made
a break for the protection of the fire,
leaving the cat crouched in the shad-
ow back of our camp.
"a sudden inspiration led me t.
think of a little bundle of, nails we
had brought to help build the shelter
with. Hastily turning a big charge OF
powder into the right barrel, wadding
it with a piece of lining from my jack
ct, then charged it with a good sized
handful of those nails, rammed home
another bit of cotton to hold them in
place, and felt ready for a fight. The
way that brute had jumped right up
into our camp had made me mad, az
soon as I recovered from the first.
shock of it. and l thirsted for his
blood, fully determined to put an end
to his bowling for good and all if he
gave me a chance. |
Telling George to back me With his
axe, l crept round the corner of the
camp and, after looking for two or
three minutes, was able to make OUT
the animal still %crouching in the par
tial shadow of a maple tree. 1t was, of
course, a foolish thing to do. for a
miss would have brought a wounded
panther right on top of us in a jiffy, |
but my blood was up and I could not
wait another second. SO drawing up
the gun I took a good aim at the
outlines in the shadow and pulled the
trigger.
"The recoil of the heavy charge al
most knocked me owe backward, and
at first I could not tell what had hap
But the beast was still lying
in the same place when I looked, and.
a burning stick from the fire.
we both approached him with axes.
ready. He was quite dead and that
handful of nails had torn an ugly
hole in his neck.
$50 I know. as I said before, that
there have been panthers in Maine.
That one was yer seven feet from
the tip of his tail to his nose, and his
Jump, when we came to look things
over by daylight, must have been over
30 feet.
I'VE were too much excited to sleep
any more that night. and the next,
skinning the panther, we had to
go out to Madrid to tell the story and
send the hide to a taxidermist. 1t
came out in the discussion that fol-
lowed our adventure that no panthers
had been e in that vicinity for more.
than is years. with the exception of
one big one which had been caught in
trap the preceding spring by the
farmer who lived the nearest to the
scene of our night combat"