Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-03-22
Mistellaneuus 8sadins.
SAVED BY A PANTHER.
Gold Hunter Tells How Wildcat Res
cued Him.

SAVED BY A PANTHER.
Gold Hunter Tells How Wildcat Res
cued Him.
Il wonder IL there are any grizzly
bears left in these mountains" said the
passenger from New York as the trair
was climbing the crest of the Sierra
Nevadas.
Probably not" responded the red
headed man in the corner. "Tney
seem to be pretty well cleared out OF
this part Of the country, and they're
rather hard to find now anywhere be-
low the Canadian line"
ITS a pity, too, from the naturalist's
standpoint" observed the professor
THE Ursus horribilis Is one Of tine
most interesting of animals, and really
has better claim than the lion to the
title Of king of beasts. He is abso-
lutely without fear, will attack a man
on the slightest provocation and car
stand as much lead as a rhinoceros
There's no animal in this part of the
world that dares to attack him, and
believe he'd more than hold his own
with the biggest and fiercest Of other
lands"
Il don't know about tnat, professor
remarked the tourist from Boston. 81
was reading the chapter on bears in
my natural history not long ago and j
was surprised at the statement made
there that the grizzly has a wholesome
dread of the panther. 1t said that the
panther's activity made it sometimes
more than a match for the big bear
and that Indians say they nave found
the bodies of grizzlies that had been
killed by panthers but never bodies Of
panthers that had been killed by griz-
zlies."
Il don't take much stock in book
rarnin' when 1t comes to wild animals,
put in the passenger from Frisco, but
l happen to know that the feller wnc
writ that wasn't so far off as you might
think. If it hadn't been for a little
mixup between {. grizzly and noun
tain lion, or panther, as you call 1t,
don't reckon I'd be sittin' here now
smokin' cigars"
THAT sounds like direct evidence,
said the red-headed man in the corner
land we'd like mighty well to have yor
explain the encounter to which we owe
the pleasure Of your company"
I'm a leetle suspicious about thai
kind O. talk" responded the Frisco pas.
senger, but, howsomever, I'll tell you
in the fall Of 'S3. Me and a fellel
how it was an how l came to be mix
ed up in the jamboree. 1t was along
in the fall Of $S3. Me and a fellel
named Martin was prospecting dowr
in the Inyo country, which in them
days was about as wild a piece of up
standin' earth as you could find any
where, and, for that matter, 1t amt ex.
actly tame yet. We'd knocked around
together about-six months without run.
min across anything worth while, ant
early in September, we'd made a sort
Of permanent camp in little draw hisf
up in the mountains and laid close fol
the next two or three months, the
signs lookin' good. We was we'll sup.
piled with flour and bacon, and the
country was chuck full O. game, big
and little, so we wasn't in any danger
ito starvin'. There was grizzlies and
panthers down there in them days, but
we wasn't huntin' 'em any. We was
lookin' for gold.
Bill wasn't feelin' very we'll that morn.
in and said he'd stay in camp an rest
up. He was considerable Of a rester
Bill was, but when it come to the
scratch he was always right there.
took along my rifle, my prospectin
hammer and a little grub, an STRUCK
out across the range, intendin' to put ir
the day. About o'clock in the even
in I was strollin' along with my heat
up in the air looking for signs an not
noticin' where l was steppin', when
caught my foot in vine an tripped
It so happened that was just on the
edge of deep gully, and / went dowr
head over heels a full twenty feet an
lit on the rocks with my right leg dou-
bled up under me-broken. found out
afterward, a little above the knee.
well, I was in a nice mess, and
knew 1t, ! was seven or eight miles
from camp, with some high ground be.
tween, and there was mighty little
chance that Bill could hear shot. But
I fired off my gun two or three times
an then l guess I Topped over. Any
how I didn't know any more until
opened my eyes an found it was night
an the moon was shinin'. My leg was
hurtin' somethin' fierce, but l managed
to twist myself around until l got my
back against the rocks so / could si'
up fairly comfortable, an then l fillec
the magazine of my rifle with car
tridges an waited. l had an idea tnat
I'd have trouble before mornin, and
it wouldn't do to have any more faints
or go to sleep. Lucky for me, l had a
small bottle in my pocket that helped
to brace me up.
II reckon it was close to midnight
when I first heard the sound l was ex-
pectin'. It was long, mournful howl
the howl Of the gray wolf Of the
mountains, an though I was already
shiverin' with cold, that howl felt like
an icicle stuck up through my back
bone. The VOLTS a cowardly beast, but
let bunch of 'em catch a man down
after dark and they'll give him some
thin to think about. In minute there
was another howl off in a different di
rection; then another somewhere else
an fore long l knew they was all
around me an closin' in was fixed so
they couldn't get at me from behind, an
while the other side O the ravine was
slopin', it was kind O. steep. an they
wasn't likely to come at me from that