The Opelousas courier., 1903-05-23

by the original settlers Of the cabin
and l felt sorry Tor the deserted crea
lures. But it was absolutely necessary
for the sake Of peace to get them out
Of the house, and 1 shouted at them
and threw chips and bits of bark.
These had no effect, and / picked
out 4 lump of the mud thinking be
tween the logs, and flung it at the cat
upon the shelf. The missile hit pretty
hard, aud with a yowl Of despairins
rage the animal sprang from its perch
and alighted squarely upon the terrier.
who had ventured too near in his ex'
element. Jack yelped at the shock.
but fought heroically, conscious that
my eyes were Oh him.
1 could make out only a tangled
of white and gray fur, spinning like a
wheel and emitting q frenzied medley
of every imaginable sort Of canine and
feline ejaculation. The second cat
joined sympathetically in the outcry.
and the upro2r 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. I 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 4 cowed snarl, but the loose
hemlock had caught fire like gunpow-
der, and instantly the room was full
Of smoke.
1 dashed to the door, preceded by the
dog, and in the dark I stumbled oyer
something soft that spat at me. Once
fairly outside, I stopped and looked
back. The inner room of the shanty
seemed all ablaze, but 1 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 ven then I had
no inclination to re-enter the building. |
l did not mind admitting that 1 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
eel Il remote risk of another encoun-
ter with that outlaw family. And
the rest of that night Jack and I spent
very uncomfortabiy under a great
spruce, wet and shivering.
AS Don as it was light I 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 u nocturnal disturbers e1-
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 its size was far
beyond that of the hearth-rug puss.
Jacks hole in the floor had a new
meaning for ne now. It seemed to
lead to 4 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
fof a 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 were Of the second, per-
Of the third, generation from
their domesticated ancestors. A cat,
at the best, is domesticated only OH
the surface, and these cats had prob
nb]y fallen into the life of the woods
with the greatest facility, remaining
the shanty only through the charac-
attachment of their race for
heir wonted haunts.
Certainly these animals seemed to
possess every qualification for flourish
ng in their new environment, and it
seemed certain that they would in time
end to revert to the original savage
ype Of their race. 1t is not impossible
hat some time in the future some
may report the discovery
If a new sort of lynx Or .catamousfi III :
he forests northern Ontario.-
loutlisS Companion.