Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1914-11-17
FOOLED THE PANTHER
UNCLE BILL OBJECTED TO FUR
nlSHlNG Hen MEAL.
Old i-rontiersman Naturally Delights
Relating to His Grandchildren
Huw Narrowly He Escaped
From Hldeous Death.

Uncle Bill Joyce lives down in
southwestern Missouri, on the edge Of
the Ozark country He has lived there
a great many years, for he is an old
man now, and he is full of entertain
ing "reminiscences of the days wheni
that corner of the state was still all
most wilderness. Among the stories
he loves to tell the open-mouthed
children of a more sheltered genera
ton is this account of lively sdven-
ture with the animal that all old
frontiersmen used to call painter.
Uncle Bill will begin;
One day in the summer of 1851,
shouldered my rifle and started for a
days hunt. ! was bound for small
prairie some FIVE or six miles from
home. After hunting for deer spell
without seeing a sign, / turned into
a small grove of walnut, oak and null
berry to hunt for squirrels. got a
good many OF them during the morn
ing. Once or twice l stopped TO listen
to a queer noise that | could hardly
hear, il was so far away. 1t was
long, quavering cry that died away
gradually. Cut ii came no nearer.
and finally stopped altogether.
When it came noon, went TO
spring ] knew of and ate the lunch
that | had brought with me. Then l
thought l would so on to the prairie
end hunt for wild bees-that was real
ly what / had in mind when | started.
But felt sleepy, ana thought would
{ : a nap first, and so l stretched
myself in a shady place ard fell
asleep.
| woke a little later to find myself
covered with leaves and small brush.
was puzzled sure enough, for
couldn't think what could have COW
cred ME up. but decided to find out.
First | got a dead log about six feet
long, laid it where | had slept, and
covered ii with leaves and brush. l
looked to see whether my gun was
loaded, and then / hid In clump of
bushes some twenty or twenty-five
yards away. After about twenty min
utes heard a noise. peered out OF
the bushes, and saw large She
panther coming through the trees,
| followed by a quarter-grown cub. She
circled round tn, mound of leaves a
couple of times; the cub followed
every action of its mother. After
the second round, the old panther
| crouched as If for a spring. She
crouched lower and lower, and kept
| drawing her feet closer together. She
| kept her eyes fastened on the mound
| of leaves all the time, and swayed her
tail from side to side with a slow,
regular motion.
Wien she had gathered her feet as
| close together as she could, she
sprang for the pile of leaves. She
landed In the very middle of the pile.
and gave several long, wicked rakes
with her hind feet. Then she began
| to smell and scratch in the leaves. It.
! didn't take her long to find out that
there was nothing but an old log
there, and she stopped scratching and
began to look about. | thought that
now was the time to settle matters.
I was a little to her left and behind
her; I caught a sight just al the base
of her ear, and fred Shc gave one
leap and snrill cam, and then
lay still
After making sure that sa was
dead, / looked for the cub. t was
sitting near by on the side of = lean
ing tree, splitting and snarlins angrily.
soon put an end to that with a rife
ball / never knew man so well
hunted as | was without being hurt.
She probably took me for dead, and
covered me TO keep other ;inimals
from finding me while she went after
her cub.-Youth's Companion.