Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1905-08-17

NAAS
IN IA increased as human weap-
ons have grown more deadly.
Once and once only have I seen q
panther that was other than a skulk.
ing, timorous brute, intent only on
escape. It was fifteen years ago., on
the Olympic shore and range, south
of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. I then
held a kind of rowing commission from
the Smithsonian Institution. I was
but twenty-five, and was thus put on
my mettle to penetrate unvisited quar-
ters of the world and keep my eyes
open.
And that time the region was a YER
liable terra incOgnita. On the map 1t
is termed Clallam County, but for a
hundred miles east and west, particu-
larly among the mountains, it was then
as primitive and savage as when u
race first set foot on the continent.
1t was one vast tangle of brush and
rotting tree trunks, which gave way
like wet paper underfoot, letting the
unwary explorer through into unsus-
pected holes, where he might, very pos
sibly, find himself in the lair of a griz-
ely that had never yet learned gum
fear. Bears and panthers were the
monarchs of this solitude.
Humanity speaking, too, it was a law
less coast. Scattered along the shore,
often leagues apart, were a few
"lOOkOuts" Of Otter-hunters, who were
a law unto themselves, and did not hes
itate to send a far-killing bullet after
those who intruded on their ranges"
The flakes of a few Victoria fishers
men might be stumbled on duringsfhe
season. About the river mouths one
would at times catch glimpses of an
Indian canoe, Oh a thin line Of smoke
rising at sunrise or sunset. But the
forest was too dense, rank and tangled
for good hunting, and the Indians and
half-breeds here were mainly those
whom murder or other crimes had rem
dered outcasts.
In some expectation of finding the
precious metals, I had been trying to
reach a high mountain valley, visible
from the coast, by ascending the gorge
of the Puy-Clallam, from Port Town.
send, in a sailing dory, which carried
my small kit and stock of provisions.
A little way up the tidal portion of
the river 1 had come upon an old log
hut, in a secluded nook of the shore.
1t had evidently been deserted for sew
eral years, but it served me as a base
for my tramps u the gorge. On the
night of my story I had returned to it
rather late and thoroughly tired, after
a solitary jaunt of twenty miles or
more. I put On half a salmon to boil
in my porcelain kettle, over a fire
which a rock and the end of the hut
sheltered, and 1 also made a skilletful
OF hot "breakfast food;'' this, with SUI
gar and a spoonful of diluted canned
milk, appeased my hunger a little, till
the salmon was cooked.
Meanwhile dusk had fallen, and the
swarming mosquitoes drove me to don
net and gloves. The hum of thousands
Of these insects blended with the dis.
tant roar of rapids up the river. TIC
eat my salmon in peace it was neces.
sary to smoke out the hut and retire
inside-for the insect pests dashed
blindly into my platter and into my
mouth.
The moo was not yet quite in sight
over the wooded mountain across thu
stream, but its light was slowly difus
ing itself athwart the wilderness:'an6
presently I heard two sea-otters miau
ing at each other down in Little Bay
They seemed to be close in to thu
shore; and as my supper had revived
me considerably, I took my carbin,
and stepped outside. 1t was possible
1 thought, to get a shot at them as tn,
moon came up; and a sea-otter pei
may be worth a couple of hundred dol
lars.
My little cooking fire had burned
down, and I scuffed some loose san
e it with my foot as 1 stopped t
listen to the offers again. But a dens
gust of mosquitoes dashed into m,
face as / stood there; and refectin;
that l might have to lie or stand uuie
for some little time if I stalked tn
offers, 1 went back inside for nv hea,
net and gloves, standing M carbin
against that end of the hut as l did SC
for he door was at the other end.
1t o. me a minute or two to fin
n put on the net in the dark interio
OF the hut; but I was coming out whe1
not twenty feet away, 1 discoyere
some large animal with eyes thu
gloWed like Goals in the obscuritvl
was in. the very act of crouchinp +
spring at me! l heard the sough of II
breath as it drew itself together j,
Jump, and I leaped back into the h,
and slammed the door. !.
had no time to spare. The bea,
came plump against the door with
violence that nearly hurled it back an
me with it! One paw came at the Gre
ice by the d%oor-post. I set nv bar
| against the door and dug my heels in,