The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1903-01-02

by the original settlers OF the cabin
and felt sorry for the deserted crea.
tures. But II was absolutely necessary
for the sake Of peace 10 get them out
| OF the house, and / shouted at them
and threw chips and bits Of bark.
These had 10 effect. and ] picked
out lump Of the mud chlnking be.
tween the logs, and flung IL al the cat
| upon the shelf. The missile hit pretty
! hard. aud with a yowl OF despairing
rage the animal sprang from It's perch
and alighted squarely upon the terrier,
who had venture1 too near In his ex-
citement. Jack yclDed ~ the shock,
but fought herOically, conscious that
| my eyes were on him.
could make out only tangled mass
Of white and gray fur. spinning Ike a
wheel and emitting a frenZied medley
Of every imaginable sort OF canine and
feline ejaculation. The second cat
Joined sympathetically In the outcTy.
and the uproar was indescribable. But
Jack was far outmatched In everything
but weight. and in few seconds lac
broke away again with 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. / struck II with the butt Of my
gun and beat II with the Naming 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.
dashed 10 the door, preceded by the
dog, and in the dark ! stumbled over
something soft that spat at me. Once
fairly outside, / stopped and looked
back The inner room Of the shanty
seemed all ablaZ", but ! 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 | had
no inclination 10 rc-cnter the building.
| did not mind admitting that | was
fairly whipped. 1t was almost Ger
tain that the cats had fed like oar
selves, from the conlagratiOn, but |
greatly preferred 10 getting wet 10 run
even "A remote risk Of another cncoun-
ter with that outlaw family And
the rest of that night Jack and spent
very uncomfortably under a great
spruce wet and shvcring.
As soon as II was light | went back
10 get my kuapsaCk. My belongings,
being in the outer room. had not been
touched by the fire aud there was no
trace of our nocturnal disturbcrs eX-
ccpt the body Of the dead cat lying
among the scattered ashes. II was too
badly burned for examination, hut il
was easy to see that its size was far
beyond that OF the hcarth-rug puss.
jacks hole in the floor had n new
meaning for me now It seemed to
lead TO sort Of den under the house,
into which | could not see, but which.
from the vile odor of dccaycd bones
that came up, must have been i'm use
FOR long time. In fact, as everything
indicated that the cabin had been for
years abandoned by human life, it
seemed 10 me probable that these
hhps Of the third, generation from
their domcsticatcd ancestors. A cat.
at the best, Is domcstiCatcd 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-
tcristic attachment Of their race for
their wOnted haunts.
Certainly these animals seemed to
possess every qualification for flourish
ing I'm their new environment and IL
seemed certain that they would I'm time
tend To revert TO the original savage
type Of their race 1t Is not impossible
that some time i'm the future some
naturalist may report the discovery
of a new sort Of lynx or Catamount in
the forests Of northern Ontario
Youths Companion.