Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1903-03-16

| size; It's ears tWltched; Its tail snapped
| viciously to and fro, and its eyes
blazed green, while from between it's
barred teeth came that savage and
rhythmic war-cry. Its gaze was alter
nately directed at me and at Jack, who
started toward it, barking furiously,
but taking good care to keep out of
reach.
took in this surprising scene at the
first glance, and at the second l per-
| ceived another cat, of pure Maltese
| gray, lying apparently dead under the
| table-shelf. This must have been the
one l had shot, and beginning to real
| ize that l had to deal with q whole
| family, l looked about somewhat ap-
| prehensively for others. The third
presently discovered skulking in dark
| corner, with gray back arched and tail
| puffed like q feather boa. This one
seemed more anxious for concealment
than for combat, and 1 glanced over
| the room for the rest of the tribe; but
there seemed to be no more.
l have always had a fondness for
| cats, and in spite of the unattractive
appearance Of these specimens, l could
| not think Of shooting them down. No
doubt they had been abandoned here
| by the original settlers of the cabin,
and felt sorry for the deserted crea-
lures. But it was absolutely necessary
| for the sake of peace to get them out
of the house, and l shouted at them
and threw chips and bits of bark
These had no effect, and 1 picked
out lump Of the mud chinking be-
| tween the logs, and flung it at the cat
upon the shelf. The missile hit pretty
| hard, and with yowl of despairing
rage the animal sprang from its perch
and alighted squarely upon the terrier.
who had ventured too near in his eX-
citement. Jack yelped at the shock,
but fought heroically, conscious that
my eyes were ON him.
l could make out only n tangled mass
of white and gray fur, spinning like
wheel and emitting a frenZied medley
of every imaginable sort of canine and
feline ejaculation. The second cat
| joined sympathetically in the outcry,
| and the uproar was indescribable. But
Jack was far outmatched in everything
but weight and in a few seconds he
broke away again with a pitiful howl
and darted behind me for protection.
Reckless with rage the cat followed
him. kicked out wildly, and the cat
fastened upon my legs with tooth and
| claw. L struck it with the butt of my
gun and beat it with the flaming torch.
Fire flew in all directions. The cat let
go with cowed snarl, but the loose
hemlock had caught fire like gunpow-
der, and instantly the room was full
of smoke.
l dashed to the door, preceded by the
dog, and In the dark l stumbled over
something soft that spat at me. Once
fairly outside, I stopped and looked
back. The inner room of the shanty
seemed all ablaze, but L was pretty
certain that the light mass Of twigs
would burn up and go out without
doing any serious damage. This, in
fact, happened, but even then I had
no inclination to re-enter the building.
did not mind admitting that l was
fairly whipped. 1t was. almost cer-
tain that the cats had fed, like our
selves, from the confagration, but
greatly preferred to getting wet to run
even a remote risk of another encoun-
ter with that outlaw family. And
the rest of that night Jack and spent
very uncomfortably under great
spruce, wet and shivering
AS soon as it was light l went back
to get my knapsack. My belongings,
being in the outer room, had not been
touched by the fire. and there was no
| trace of our nocturnal disturbers eX-
| cept the body of the dead cat lying
among the scattered ashes. 1t was too
| badly burned for examination, but it
| was easy to see that it's size was far
| beyond that of the hearth-rug puss.
Jacks hole in the floor had new
meaning for me now. 1t seemed to
lead to Il sort of den under the house,
into which l could not see, but which,
from the vile odor of decayed bones
that came up, must have been in use
foc long time. In fact, as everything
indicated that the cabin had been for
years abandoned by human life, it
seemed to me probable that these
feline tenants We're of the second, per-
haps of the third, generation from
their domesticated ancestors. A cat,
at the best. is domesticated only on
the surface and these cats had prob
ably fallen into the life of the woods
with the greatest facility, remaining
at the shanty only through the charac-
teristic attachment of their race for
their wonted haunts.
Certainly these animals seemed to
possess every qualification for flourish
ing in their new environment and it
seemed certain that they would in time
tend to revert to the original savage
type of their race. 1t is not impossible
that some time in the future some
naturalist may report the discovery
of new sort OF lynx or catamount in
the. forests of northern Ontario
Youths Companion.