Smyrna times., 1901-11-20
A PANTHER'S
REQUEST
How Clyde Brown Found q
Fortune and Won a Girl
Observation-Disclosures

In a large mining town in the far
west there lives George Randolf, a
mining king. who by nature is as stern
and arbitrary as men are apt to be
when they acquire sudden riches. In
addition to his gold. he possessed a
rare treasure in the person of his
daughter Bessie. as sweet a seventeen
year-old maiden as ever lived
Pretty Bessie did not lack for lovers,
and quite as naturally the favored one |
was the very one that her father OBJ
jected to.
Clyde Brown was frank spoken. with |
an honest, manly face, a true, loving |
heart and little else.
"Why. Elizabeth" = her father al
ways called her that when displeased-
chow can you forget that we are de-
scended from the Randolfs of Vir-
ginia? Just a little longer, daughter
year or two at the most-and we will
go east and live as other people do.
Then my jewel may find worthy set
ting"
81 want no one but Clyde, papa"
protested Bessie tearfully.
But tears made no impression on the
hard heart of George RandOlf.
However, he cOndescended to give a
conditional consent to their union
such an absurd condition that people
laughed and shook their heads and
Bessie's merry face grew grave.
"When you can slow the possession
of hundred thousand dollars you can
have her." he said grimly in answer to
Clyde Browns manly petition. I'm
til then I'll hear no more about it,"
You can never do it, sobbed Bessie
when they stood alone in the moon
light by the road a few moments later,
while her father watched angrily from
the window. Fortunes arr wonder
fully made in these mines sometimes,
but none will fall to us"
Don't be discouraged, my precious
Queen Bess." Clyde returned, with all
"a livers unreasoning fOndness. only
trust in me through all and wait for
me, no matter what may happen. VIII
you promise me that?"
Will, uGdTeSIs lou kuGW
that l would before you asked" she
murmured. But do not try me too
much, for father is as hard as q rock"
81 must go away for awhile, my
darling. Somewhere in yonder end
less chain of mountains n fortune is
waiting for me. l feel it-I know it
as we'll as if it were already in my
grasp" he answered in solemn earnest
ness.
"God grant that it may be So" she
added.
And then she walked slowly to the
house, to her fathers great relief.
The next morning Clyde left the
town fully equipped for a prospecting
tour, and quite alone excepting the
three large dogs which followed Sc
dately at his heels.
For some time the prize which hI
sought eluded him. but it came to hin
at last in strange manner.
One day, after following the cours'
of noisy, shallow stream into a mar
row valley hemmed in by lofty noun
tains, he camped at the foot of
gigantic tree near the water.
The dogs whined uneasily and sniffe'
at q hole among the roots of the tree
but he called them away and went Ol
building a fire to cook supper from til
loose wood and branches around.
"Now that the fire is ready" b
unused aloud, 81 wonder if I'll find an
game hereabout."
AS if in answer a half grown dee
came down to the stream on the OppC
site bank not many rods away.
1t stopped, with one foot upraiseC
and looked at the dogs with startle
eyes. The next instant the report {
Clyde's rife rang out, the deer leape
into the air. sprang forward and fe
into the stream, from which it wa
soon dragged by the dogs.
But the echoes made by the repOl
had not died out among the hills befol
another sound aroused them again.
1t was the scream of an angry pal
ther from the mountain behind hiI
and it was instantly answered by a.
other on the right and yet another fl
down the valley on the left
Clyde heaped the dry limbs upon Il
fire, and the dogs. usually as brave
lions. whined piteously as they skulk'
close to his feet.
He waited in breathless anxiety f
several minutes, but could hear not
ing except the cracking of the fiji
which now threw a wide circle
light, and the night wind among t
trees.
Soon, following a magnetism viii
he could not account for, he fixed
gaze upon a tall tree near the base
the mountain and encountered t
glare of two fierce yellow eyes.
A panther was crouching there up
long limb, every nerve of his body
motion as he prepared for the fat
spring.
To aim and fire at him was the /
pulse of a second, and the tawny brJ
sprang outward, with a snarl of ra