The Tupelo journal., 1903-11-20
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BY GILES

L'ROM among the many strange incl
dents of his long residence in Hon.
uuras, related by my old comrade in
arms, Henry Dacres, | select the follow
ing as evincing wonderful presence of
mlnd In a moment of deadly peril.
zone day." said he. II came down out
Oh the hills for the purpose of exploring
some bottom lands, where l was told
q number of unusually fine mahogany
trees might be found in a certain valley,
supposed to be about IL miles from my
camp. After a tedious search l finally
discovered the place. and seeing at a
glance that it really contained many
grand trees, l dismounted, tied my mule
TO a sapling, and began a close inspec-
ton or foot.
FAs the weather was very hot, and
every extra of weight a burden, |
left my repeating rifle slung to the sad
die and my heavy revolvers in the hols-
tiers. This was a very foolish thing for
an old woodsman and hunter to do, but
no suspicion of possible danger crossed
my mind at the moment, and | was soon
so deeply immersed in my estimates that
| never gave the matter a thought.
The valley where | now found myself
was a strangely damp, gloomy and lone
ly spot, looking as if it had never been
trodden by the foot of civilized man; and
although | saw there was plenty Of
money in it for me, l felt al unaccount-
able depression of spirits while explor-
ing it.
by and by I began to realize that I
was much fatigued and very hungry,
and as it was now long past noon | sat
down on a log to eat a light lunch, which
l had brought in my pockets. This con-
sisted merely of bread and meat and a
flask of cold coffee, and was m~unching
away, when l was aroused by a great
commotion among a number of monkeys
perched in the tops of some adjacent
palms.
Being thoroughly conversant with
the habits of these sagacious little crea-
lures, | knew at once from their alarmed
gatherings and cries of rage that some
dangerous animal-probably a puma
was in the vicinity. However, l had no
great fears for my own safety, knowing
that the puma. or panther will rarely at
tack even a single man in daylight.
But l did fear that the beast, what
ever it was, might scent the mule, now
about 800 yards distant, and either
pounce upon it or cause it to break away.
AS this mule was the very best l owned,
an invaluable saddle beast, | lost no time
in attempting to reach it. So far | had
seen no signs of a wild animal; but all
the same | was convinced that the mon
keys had given no fasle alarm, and that
danger of some kind was near.
81 was making my way through the
underground as fast as possible. and
keeping a sharp lookout, when | caught
sighto something which gave me a thrill
of terror, and caused me bitterly to re-
gret the folly of leaving my arms be-
hind; for, crouched low upon his belly,
directly in my patch and not more than
20 PAGES ahead, a full-grown male jaguar
lay beside a bush, intently watching me,
"At this sight l stood for a moment or
two stock-still, and could plainly dis
tinguish the beautiful, ringlike spots
upon the animals glossly hide, the cruel
CLEAN of his greenish yellow eyes, and
mark the nervous, but as yet slight,
twitching of his slowly moving tail.
Il had not thought of such a foe as
this, the jaguar being the largest and
f~iercest of all the American Felidae. He
in common with the panther, is much
dreaded by the natives of Honduras. but
there is no comparison between the
brutes, the jaguar being much larger
than the latter and much more formid-
able.
He is, indeed, not far below the tiger
of India in size, and Is quite his equal in
ferocity; and although generally of a
like %sneaking and cowardly nature. he
will, on occasion, display the same reck-
less courage which at times inspires his
Asiatic congener.
Honduras people call both these great
cats ell tigre, although the true tiger is
not found in America. However, the
jaguar is a pretty fair substitute; and it
is said that he, too, after once tasting
human blood, becomes a confirmed man
eater. Certainly the very fine specimen
now blocking my path looked as if about
to begin this role by making a meal of
me.
Il had no weapons about me except a
pocket knife and one of those three-inch,
single barrel, large bore Derringer pis-
tolls, designed especially rdefense when
one is closely grappled by a foe. This was
in my waistcoat pocket. and loaded, but
/ had not a second cartridge, and at best
the diminutive, though powerful weapon
would be, from the difficulty of taking
aim with it, Of no use at a greater dis
lance than a foot or two.
Nevertheless, as in this particular case,
the extreme of rashness might prove the
height of prudence, and knowing full
we'll that if l remained long motionless