The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1908-05-13

and plunging aside out of the road.
brought the wagon up with a heavy
shock against stumps and stones.
Coburn was thrown headlong be-
tween the horses, but falling partly on
the wagon tongue, he recovered him
self, sprsas off In advance of the team,
emu got the frightened animals by the
bits They reared, snorting, and swung
the wagon out into the road again, for
they heard, or scented, the panther
stealing up behind. Coburn was
dragged along for some distance, and
had all he could do to prevent the
horses from getting clear away.
In the midst of the scuffle and clat-
ter, he had heard savage growl and
jumped to the top of the crate. He
could see it there indistinctly, in the
dim starlight, balancing itself, trying
to tear off the crate slabs, to get at
the lambs. The horses now went near
ly frantic, pushed violently back, then
sprang on again, and going off the
road on the other side, stuck the pole
back of a tree in such way as to
bring the tree between them. With
his arms round the tree, Coburn now
got hold of the bits of each horse and
held them there. and after some mo-
ments-catching his breath-he pulled
the reins through the bits and tied
the heads of both horses close to the
tree trunk. They could not now get
away; in fact, they held each other
there hard and fast.
Meanwhile frightful racket, accom-
panied by loud bleating of the lambs,
was going on in the crate behind.
When the horses bumped off the
road the last time, the lion had fallen
or jumped off the crate. 1t was not now
in sight, and Coburn stepped cautions
ly back beside the nigh horse, to see
where the brute had gone and what it
was doing. BY the sounds, the lion
was evidently in among the lambs;
and Coburns first thought was that 1t
had torn the top of the crate off.
In the wagon box, under the drivers
belt, in which he was accustomed to
carry revolver when out on the road
at night. The day had been SO hot
that, while doctoring his horse, he had
taken the belt off and put it in the box
with his coat. The revolver was what
he was now trying to secure. Creeping
low beside the horse, he reached up to
the box, and raising the lid, got hold
of the belt and pistol.
From the noise in the crate he was
sure the panther was in 1t, killing a
lamb; and he slipped quickly along by
the wheels, to the rear end of the crate,
determined to risk shot at close
range if he could see the animal. Now,
however, he discerned that the crate
door was open and that the lion had
sprung in there. But the lambs ap-
peared to be all huddled at the front
end, and it instantly occurred to him
to clap the door to and fasten 1t; for
he saw now that the top Of the crate
was still intact
While he was securing the door,
however, he nearly ran over two small
creatures close to the wagon-wheels.
They sprang away, but stood, snarl
ing, a few steps off, looking in the
dim light to be no larger than house
cats. He at once surmised that these
were. cubs, and that it was an old fe-
male had attacked him.
He was not afraid of these little
fellows; but when he clapped. the crate
door to, the old one suddenly dashed
back at it with a lamb in her mouth,
snarling frightfully. He fired at her
head as we'll as he could see-and then
pandemonium reigned inside the crate!
The alarmed lambs rushed to and |
fro, bleating loudly, and the lion ap-
peared to be going heels over head
among them!
Coburn meanwhile was holding the |
crate door, trying to get another shot.
Some moments passed before matters
quieted enough for him to do so. The
awful snarls and growls of the en-
trapped beast guided him as to it's
whereabouts, however, and at last
making out its darker form among the
lambs, he fred again-several times,
in fact.
None of these first shots appeared !
to do the brute any harm, and after
every flash lamb and lion went all
over the inside of the crate again. 1t
is not easy to shoot with anything like
accuracy in the night, even at close
range He emptied his revolver, then
it, before a shot really dis
abled the lion and brought 1t to the
floor of the crate. Even then it
thrashed about, making hideous out
cries, until, reaching in between the
stats, Coburn had fired several other
shots into its body.
Satisfied at last that the beast was
done for, he got his lantern from the
box, lighted it, and opened the crate.
The interior presented a sorry spec
tacle. The lion had killed two lambs,
and shots from the revolver had
wounded another-which had to be
killed later.