The Opelousas courier., 1900-12-15
The Blind Cougar.
:BY FRANKLIN wELLEs CALKINs.


It was a good day for deer-hunting
Two or three inches of snow had fall
en-, and the air seemed soft and heavy
as 1t does before a storm. We deter
mined to utilize the favorable weather
for the killing of our winter meat
Therefore, at about sunrise, my part
ner, Curtis, our Indian helper, Pete
Debaw, and myself set out from oul
shack to make a circuit Of the nearer
hills.
In 1875 this rough Black Hills coun-
try abounded in big game-elk, deer,
sheep, grizzlies, black bears and noun
tain-lions. On that November day,
at one o'clock or a little later, I had
killed and hung up four blacktails and
one cotton buck. Then, in close pur-
suit Of a wounded doe among a rough
tumble Of rock lodges, a serious acct
dent befell me. Hot upon the trail,
was pushing through an underground
Of cedar, when l burst from cover upon
a preeipitous slope and fell headlong.
| dropped my gun upon the snow, and
grasped in vain at bush and boulder
to stay my downward flight. I pitched
down an incline, rolled yer and over,
and dropped off the rim of a ledge
some fifteen or twenty feet in height.
For some time I lay p~aralyzed, physi-
cally, by the shock of my fall. My face
lay on the edge of a narrow shelf of
rock and M of my arms overhung
1t. I had no power to retire from this
perilous position, yet with a curious
sense Of helpless indifference / looked
down into a black and dismal gully
which I knew well was the hidden
canon" as we had named it, Of Spring
Greek.
1t was from twelve to twenty feet in
width, a huge split between two
masses of rock. 1t must have been
nearly n hundred feet to the bot
tom, and a small stream leaped and
tumbled through the boulder-flled
channel.
So narrow was the cleft where / lay
that an active man could have leaped
1t at a running jump. On the opposite
side was a mass of rocks rounding of
to the left, and below this a rough,
narrow slope along the rim of the
notch.
"A poor place to look for deer" was
my thought, anu there was little likeii-
hood Of my hunting companions finding
me soon, unless l could send my shouts
to their ears. But as get I had no
voice for shouting.
At the end of half an hour the paraIy-
sis Of my nerve had partially abated.
and | succeeded in rolling over ana
gaining a reclining posture against the
ledge. In SO doing, / discovered that
my right shoulder was disloeated. and
that probably two of my ribs were
cracked. | found that I was upon a
shelf OF rock some thirty feet lin length,
and not nor than seven or eight in
width.
Still nothing seemed to matter great
ly, and when presently a gust of wine
whirled by and great feathery fakes
began dropping spirally into the notch,
] felt a lethargic N of Indifference.
From this hazy condition / was
reused by seeing a great reddish-yel-
low beast come out of a cleft in the
rocks just across the narrow canon.
It was a mountain lion Of great size,
and 1t paused upon the slope with up
lifted head and pricked ears, appar-
emily listening and looking away
toward the higher ground.
Now, for the first time since 1 had
fallen, | felt a thrill of fear. II the
big cat were hungry, how easily it
might leap the gully and deyour me
where / lay! Most feverently I hoped
the creature might trot away beyond
the rocks.
But the lion turned its head and
seemed to be looking directly at me. 1t
walked deliberately down to the edge
OF the cleft, and for an instant II
thought my time had come.
Still the animal showed no sign of
having seen me. On the contrary, It
turned Immediately to one side, and be-
gan trotting back and forth in front
Of Its lair. 1t travelled over a beat OF
some forty yards or more, wheeling