El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-09-06
THE LAST MEAL
The HeraId's Daily
ShOrtStery
ing Animal Story For Children.

The rabbit saw that grinning coun-
tenance grinning In upon him. anu nc
came to his senses, froze on the IN
slant into silence. 1t was too late
however there was a pounce, a seu1-
file. a single scream, and silence
Bunny was dead but by no means done
with. TIA
knowing as well as fox and Wild
cat that a rabbits squeal is a rally
inc Doint for all flesh eaters, the lynx
was anxious to hurry away with ms
prize before any more claimants TO
meal arrived. and there at once he got
into difficulties with the prler KEN
drill which held the rabbit.
Cats have not much patience at the
best of times, and a lynx is Of course
a large species of cat, but TINS one
was in a special hurry. He tugged and
tugged-he knew better than to claw
and risk fniuring the delicate pads of
his great paws-and as ne tuSSeo ne
snarIed.
right ear. ,, ..,-o
YOU 10 say zone" the lynx had moved
one yard and pivoted round He
found himself, staring into the gleam-
ing open jaws of wolf; and quicker
still. he had-being frightened ana
seeing no escape-struck-bif Now
that wolf who had also heard the
distress cry of the rabbit and hur-
ried to IL, was a far larger animal than
the lynx. and would, If his heart had
been as large too, have slain him
But lynxes do not die without arSu-
ment, as he knew; this one would be
hard to get at fairly too, in there
among the brfers and that terrible
rakihg slush of the hooked talons all
down his nose hurt very much indeed
For these reasons, II was, I think,
that after the first amazed howl OF
pain, the wolf just gave one furious
snap and galloped off leaving the lynx
to eat his meal in peace.
This he did, and when the feast was
over, after carefully cleaning him
self, just as dawn was breaking, he
moved Off just like some moving gray
shadow through the mist, to his lair.
Now one would have thought that
the rabbit really was done with TINS
time. but not bit of it.
It was quite early in the afternoon
and still some hours before the dusk
would call him again to his hunting,
that the lynx awoke in the cool depths
Of a hollow tree wherein he had en-
sconced himself. Ordinarily he slept
right through until dusk, unless some
animal attempted to enter his abode,
and there were few hardy enough 10
venture upon that task Yet some
thing had assuredly awakened him
most fully, and it did not come from
outside either, this disturbing ele-
1t came from inside inside his own
1.-THE body. He felt as if fire were
raging inside there. The awakening
and the realization of the position and
the workings of instinct followed one
another quickly. In a second the lynx
was on his feet-in another he was
at the mouth of the hollow, frighten-
ing a squirrel. eating nuts just out
side. nearly into a fit-and In another
he was down on the ground eating the
grass like a mad thing. Grass is the
wild hunting animals emetic; yet al
though effective in one way it failed
in another. The pain was still there
Then the lynx turned and dashed for
the nearest water
\ herd of deer asleep-if deer ever
do sleep in the shade and the heat OF
the day, sprang suddenly to their feet
as gray brown beast, frothing at the
mouth and with madness staring out
of its eyes. dashed through their
midst: a herd Of wild swine, led by a
savage bristly old boar roofing Tor
acorns in the shadows was suddenly
scattered. grunting, in all directions
by a flame eyed animal that 1t had
rushed among them, and was gone
before the old boar could even lift
his long tusked snout TO charge; and
a wild goat which had come down 10
the mountains to drink while its foes
of the night, were asleep. was nearly
knocked into the stream by some quite
crazy creature, blindly rushing down
to the water
And there with head down. and
tongue tapping, the lynx fell and died,
and the clear, rushing stream turning
his body over and over rolled MIN
away to the sea
The rabbit had been poisoned by
some Spanish peasant possibly or py
some plant and had itself dashed full
| into the treacherous briers. not in
play. but in desire to find water.