The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1905-10-27
u%NAcQuAINTED WITH FIRE
After Exhaustins Every Other Means
of Getting Away from lnfuriated
Brute, a Little Burning Brush
Saved His Life.
From the Kansas CITY Journal

NO., 1 don't want to kill any game
Bruner replied. The fact is, I was
scared about a yea g putty nearly to
death-made a plaything Of by a
damned panther for about an hour In
these very mountains, and l don't want
that sort of 'sperience agin, and it was
just because I didn't hev my gun with
me.
Il waa at Cherry Grove, on top of the
Allegheny, intending to stay all season
with friends, when one day 1 got a
letter askin' mo to come on a certain
day over to Addison to meet a fishin'
party an guide 'em in to the Cheat
mountains on a trout fishin' trip. AS I
only had time nuff to meet 'em on the
day set by takin' the shortest route, I
cluded to foller the old Seneca path.
THE Seneca path is an old InjLn
trail which runs bout as near straight
as a surveyor could make it right
through the Dry fork of Rich noun
tain across Laurel river, then Yer
Middle mountain and East Fork, over
Shaver mountain an Otter river, an
straight on drought the widest,
toughest part of the woods to the rail-
road.
Better take yer gum said Jim
Burk, the Teller 1 was stayin' with.
They say them woods is full Of PAN
theirs an bars. an them mout tackle
ye.'
I'll jes' go light as I kin, an I won't
hev any time to spare. AS fer the var
mints, I amt skeered O. them 1 says,
an of l loped, carrying nothin' but q
piece O. meat an a pone o. cohn bread.
IT'S a mighty long way cross an I
made good time. l did MT see nothin'
that day but a ole she bar an a couple
o. half grown cubs; and they wuz right
in the trail, an all three stopped an
growled an shifted when they saw me,
but when I waved my arms an started
of 'ar1 with a whom fonv 1if 011f ltlyn
race horses.
Them bars looked so comical, an
they was skeered SO bad that I laffed
till 1 was sore. Tibet wuz my time to
laff; the mex time the other crittes did
the laffin' If any was did.
Il slept under a tree that night an
nothin' bothered me, an the next
mornin' started early, follerin' the old
Injun path-an' by the way, that ole
Seneca trail is jes' as plain today as it
was 100 years ago. It's bout eighteen
inches wide an a foot deep, an SO hard
thft nothin' grows on ties like it
hid been leveled out With q shovel.
Il was goin' long in a sort O. a lope,
right long the top O. Shaver mountain,
with the woods CROWN thick an big
front O. me, not fifty feet away, a big
painter jumped off a big limb plump
into the path. He was the biggest
painter I ever saw, an he must "a bin
at least nine feet long, from tip to tip;
an how his yaller and brown body did
shine when he stretched himself out
full length, jest as though he was
stretchin' out for a big jump.
Il tell you l was skeered for one. I
RELY did MT know what to do. To turn
am run away 1 knowed would be
worse'n foolislness, for he'd "a bin on
me in a couple O. jumps, an to stan
still would "a bin ekally as foolish. AT
last l cluded to keep on goin' though I
was putty sure I was goin' to be at
tackled the next minute.
Thar was jes' room to pass without
tcchin of the painter whar h elatd, fer
the path 'Wffdiened. "dutili passin' over a
fiat rock right there, an I'd made up
my mind that I'd try it eff I felt his
claws the next mint. What would "a
happened you kin imagine yerself, but
the painter didn't wait fer me to come
quite up fer when I was half a dozen
any prep'ashun. he give a mighty
spring, am 1 saw him COMM jes' like
a flash o. yaller light, an before /
could even throw up my han's he
flashed by. jes' over my shoulder; an
assI looked back thar he was, layin' flat
on the ground with his short, strong
legs an his long. curved claws, stretch-
ed out like a half growed kitten in play,
an it amt necessary to say nc more
that 1 was skeered half to death.
WAS mighty lediGQ llaC the mex
second he'd be right atop o. me. but l
KEEP IN goin,' lookin' right an lef fer
anything to fife with; a big club or
even a rock would "a bin b~etter'n moth
In but l didn't see a durn thing, an it
was Il nifty good thing I didn't, as it
twenty steps further before a yellow
streak went by rite clost to my face,
there he was as before, flat in front o.
me-, his great yaller eyes shinin' rite in
my face-not mad like, but like a good
aatured, mischievous puppy.
1T was becomin' plain to me by this
time that the painter was havin' fun
with me, but how long it would last
was a question. The mint he felt hun
cry, or got mad or s'picious he'd tear
me to pieces 1 was sartin. Then, again,
I thought mebby ne was only playin'
with me like a cat with a mouse, an oil
I could do was to watch an look out for
q chance fer somcthin,' I didn't know
what.
How long it lasted I don't know; it
seemed to me a week, but Of course it
wasn't. AS I walked along sometimes
the varmint would disappear and
would hope he was gone fer good, when
back he'd come sometimes in front,
sometimes on side or the other or
behind; sometimes with a scream, and
at others purring like a cat, julnpin'
clear over me back ana forth, a rollin'
an tunlblin' an f%rollickin', an once the
big yaller thing rolled over in front O.
me so clost that his hind claw, as big
Gs my hand, teched my foot, an I could
see his white belly his full length.
He KEEP this up rite long. till I must
i:ev sweat a gallon. expectin' that every
Jump ID be The last. All at onoe't 1 saw
les ahead, and off a little to one side,
q Did deserted hunters log camp.
1T vas about fifty yards away, a it
seemd to be sound an close. with a
dcor mad Of split puncheons. about
two foot wide and four foot high. 1t
looked like 1t had been built fer safety.
an I determined to git as clost as ]
could and then make a lash fer 1t.
81 tell We I felt nifty skittish fer the
nex mint or two till I got rite in front
of h door; hen I gave a yell an run
Ter that door,. The yell kind o. startled
the varnint, an I got to the cabin an