The Florida agriculturist., 1907-09-18
C0ALY AND THE LION

tance, and little Screech owl was Ut
tering it's peculiar cry somewhere up
the side of the gorge. [ was on the
point of falling asleep again when
slight noise near me caused me to
raise my head; AS I did so low
growl froze my blood.
A yard or two from my feet, on the
other side Of where the fire had been,
stood an animal larger than any dog.
He was looking straight at me, evil
IDENTIFY preparing to attack.
[ had never seen mountain lion
till then but the instant my eyes rested
upon the animal [ knew what it was.
A chill of horror ran over me as l sat
there, half para1yzed by fear.
One saying that [ had heard from
childhood was that a mountain lion will
not attack as long as you look it stead
lily in the eye. Now, being utterly at
the lions mercy, had presence of
mind enough, in spite of my terror, to
make the attempt. It was all [ could
do.
I do not think there was anything
in my wavering gaze very terrifying
to that lion. At least he did not show
any symptoms Of fear.
AS [ sat watching him with terri
fed, fascinated gaze he crouched as
if for a spring and uttered another
grow1 deep and fierce. I seemed to
see his hair stand on end. I was too
much dazed to move, and even if |
could have done so, was at the ami
mails mercy.
But instead of springing, he straight
ened up, and began to circle slowly
around me, keeping at about the same
distance. Perhaps he was trying to
get behind me.
AS he moved he kept his eyes fixed
upon me, and I returned his gaze as
steadily as I could. Several times he
stopped and seemed to be getting
ready for a spring, but as often moved
on again in a circle, uttering frequent
growls, while I turned in bed, and nev-
er once took my eyes from his. [ ex-
pected every moment to see him COM
ing through the air toward me, and
doubtless he would have sprung had
not something occurred which neither
he nor [ had counted upon.
Pretty soon after making the dis
covery that the beast was near I
had heard the oxen spring to their
feet, both putting as if alarmed Later,
as the lion was circ1ing round me and
growing, I could hear them tramp1ing
restlessly and tugging at their ropes
till the cedars to which they were tied
shook audib1y.
The lion himself was too much occu-
pied with me to pay any attention to
the oxen. He seemed to have made
up his mind that I would make a pa1at-
able supper, and as he had probably
not eaten for several days, he felt little
interesting in anything else just then
AS for me, although [ heard the OK
ems movements, did not dare to turn
my eyes away from the lion long
enough to see what they were doing.
But while the beast was hesitating [
heard low, coarse below, followed
by a shaking Of a tree, as if one of the
oxen was throwing his weight against
trampling of hoofs over the rocky
ground, and [ turned my head just in
time to see Coaly's huge figure, black
as midnight, as he rushed by me and
made straight for the lion
The beast was giving his whole at
tention to me, and seemed to be taken
by surprise. He uttered fierce growl
of rage, and then attempted to put him
self in defensive attitude; but before
he could do SO Coa1y was upon him.
The next moment the lion, big as he
was, shot up into the air, tossed by the
powerful horns of the black OK
Here I recovered my presence of