Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1901-02-01
lad AND HIS PANTHER.

Az ANU HIS PAN HEX.
Did you hear the panther last
night Sergeant asked Tad, the cap
tain's son.
NO" said the sergeant, as he cut
at the top of a sage-brush with the
loose end of a lariat hanging at his
saddle. Il didn't hear it. but it
yelled 1 guess. Billy Murphy was
on guard down at Post No. ., and he
didn't dare walk the length of his
beat"
Let's go there tonight and fetch
it in" said the boy.
"No-no,"
The soldier rarely spoke in so posi-
tive a manner to his younger compan-
ion. They had grown to be quite
good friends. So Sergeant Gore
looked at the trim figure by his side,
and admired-as a cavalryman would
-Tad's posture in the saddle. And
then he gazed down the long road to
the bluff on the shingly lodges of
which the panther they had been
speaking of was said to prowl at
night and call to the echoes in that
fearsome voice.
Gore was a well-born, well-trained
young fellow who had enlisted in the
ranks of the regular army at a time
when penniless and discouraged. as
has many another son of a good
family. He seemed peculiarly at
tractive to this boy. Tad admired
Gore because he was cleverer than
the others. Gore was a better shot
and a better horseman. and he was
the best wrestler in the fort. And
there is nothing that so appeals to
the soul of a boy as ability in that
close struggle of athletes. that en-
brace of gladiatOrs. out of which comes
the triumph of the unarmed hands.
the victory of the unaided muscle and
skill.
And Tad's father, the captain, had
not discouraged an association which
gave his son pleasure and seemed to
make the lad more manly.
Couldn't we kill the panther. Ser
geant?"
We might. and we might not The
last man in this troop who went out
to kill a panther came back in a sling
between two pack mules; he didn't
get off sick report for three months.
Now, see here. Tad Get that wrin-
kle out of your brain, How would
II lOOh AOl " Ism lllN captain .
son out there on the bluff at night 4?
How would l go to the captains wife
and explain it if"
Wouldn't need any explanation if
We brought the panther
"Or now would | square matters
with the captain when the captains
little boy was lying in bed-and sur
geon-plaster all over him.
'sDrntfN- nj - L
Their
Yes; and then
Sergeant, are you afraid of her?"
I'm not afraid of anything alive. -
said the sergeant, calmly.
If you are not afraid, why don't
you co."
We don't do all the things we dare
to do"
What, for instance"
We'll dare tell Higgins, when We
get to camp, that | won't mount
guard tomorrow"
Then, why don't you?"
Because it is my duty TO mount
guard whenever he details me. He's
the orderly sergeant"
Il saw you throw him one time. "
said Tad, irrelevantly; and then he
oNOBpNu W laugh at tue IeGOlleNllOu.
Higgins was a very strong man:
and one day in spring before mounted
drill was begun. the soldiers got up a
tournament on the parade ground.
where the orderly sergeant chal-
lenged any one to wrestle. Tad re-
membered Cores acceptance. and how
the bigger man had strutted to the
encounter; how the two had gripped
to the work, and how presently Gore
had caught the huge weight on his
hip, and had flung the other heels
over head in one great sweep, and had
landed him fairly and finally.
But that was months ago. Tad
looked up at the distant bluff while
the buglers We're blowing retreat.
but he stood in the attitude of a sol
der when the flag came down to the
booming of the evening gun. That
night he made his bed on the floor
OF the upper porch, and lay there Won
dering at the stars till long after taps.
Time and again he caught himself
almost across the border-land of
dreams, and it seemed to him the lag
ging midnight must have passed
when the sound for which he waited
reached his ears. And then the sud
denness of it, the savage strength of
that panthers cry startled the cour-
ageous little fellow till his heart was
still. The half-human quality of the
tone added to the terror of it.
Then his breath came back, and
with it his daring. And the next
time the cry was raised he knew the
shingly shelves of the blum were then
a promenade for the panther.