The Savannah morning news., 1904-08-14

elusive branches as a drowning man
grasps at a straw. The tree. but two
inches in diameter at the base. bent
out into space with his weight the
roots, insecure in the thin soil cover
ing the rocks, creaked, snapped and
stretched with the strain. and the
sturdy little tree dropped steadily until
1t lay out horizontally over the ghast-
ly space below.
Parker was so paralyzed with fear
that he shut his eyes clasped the
branches in a deathlilke grip, and re-
manned motionless for several mo-
ments.
my head swan so that everything
was blurred for a time" said the boy,
In telling the story. II didn't dare
look down, and IL I had wanted to 1
couldn't. for the animal had a sort of
fascination for me. The tree had stop
ped bending, but every time / moved
some of the roots would snap and
fit of shaking would attack me. So /
just kept looking and looking, expect
ing every instant that the beast would
spring, and we'd both go down thou
sand feet to those awful rocks below.
Halls Passers-by in Vain.
THE cubs ate up the fish while the
old lynx guarded me, and then they
tore the basket to shreds, played with
the revolver like kittens until they had
poked 1t over the precipice and finally
crawled under a bush and went to
sleep. At this the mother lynx retreat
ed about forty feet and lay down with
her nose between her paws. When
ever l moved she would growl, so
kept pretty still. At the end of an
hour got some of my nerve back and
looked down. 1t almost made me sick,
and the feeling Of my legs was some
thing awful. But / kept at II and saw
two teams go over. ! cried cut, but
suppose / couldn't force my voice
down, for the driver paid no attention.
AT 4 o'clock, as 1 was beginning to
be ciamped, black clouds began 20 OBJ
scure the sun and the wind came up,
Then / realized that / was In for a
thunderstorm and became panic-
stricken AS the wind rose / lay as
fiat as ! could and the lynx craw1ed
over to the shelter Of big spruce
Soon the rain commenced to fall IN
torrents, the lightning played in
flashes all about the rock and the tree
trembled, shook and swayed from side
TO side with the terrific crashes of
thunder.
Lies Awaiting His Doom.
1.-THE lynx howled and gathered her
young to her, and / just lay there
waiting Tor horrible death. My eyes
were closed tight and my teeth were
cllnched when there was a frightfu
fash of lightning, followed instantly
by a terrific peal Of thunder The
ground shook with the vibration. /
felt the tree settle and the rocks shud-
der with the blow as some monarch OF
the forest went down. I heard the
wall Of one Of the kittens and then
all was still save for the downpour
OF the rain.
Somehow I mustered courage to
open my eyes. In front OF me, where
the tree which had sheltered the lynx
family had stood, was a mass OF pull
verified rock. Twenty feet TO the right
was the 'blackened and singed body
OF one cub. The other was running
around IN a circle dazed There was
nothing 10 be seen OF the mother eN-
cept a piece Of foot. with the claws
distended from the cushion pads.
felt as ~ ! had prlckly heat all over,
but ! slid over 10 the ground with ~
steady nerves as / could muster and
tottered back into the forest for p
quarter OF a mile before stopped.
Then ! ran four miles 10 the Bruce
shanty."