The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1915-01-02
FOOLED The PANTHER
UNCLE BILL OBJECTED TO FUR
NIsHlN1 HER MEAL.
Old Frontiersman Naturally Delights
Relating TO His Grandchildren
How Narrowly He Escaped
From Hideous Death.

Uncle Bill Joyce lives down In I
southwestern Missouris on the edge Of +
the Ozark country He has lived there i
a great many years, for he is an old |
man now, and he is full Of entertain /
ing "reminiscences OF the days when
that corner OF the state was still al
most a wilderness Among the stories
he loves to tell the open-mouthed
children OF a more sheltered genera
ton is this account Of a lively adven-
ture with the animal that al old
frontiersmen used to call painter"
Uncle Bill will begin:
one day in the summer OF 1857. l
shouldered my rife and started for q
6aY,s hunt. | was bound for a 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 mul-
berry to hunt for squirrels. | got a
good many of them during the morn
ing. Once or twice / stopped to listen
to A queer noise that ! could hardly
hear. it was so far away. 1t was q
long auavering cry that died away
gradually. ut it 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
thought / would go on to the prairie
and hunt for wilG bees-that was real
ly what I had in mind when I started.
But l felt sleepy, and thought would
take a nap first. and SO ! stretched
myself in shady place and fell
asleep.
woke a little later to find myself
covered with leaves and small brush.
I was puzzled sure enough. for /
couldn't think what could have COW
cred me up, but decided to ind out.
First ! got a dead log about six feet
long, laid it where / had slept, and
covered it with leaves and brush. !
looked to re 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 :. noise. I peered out Of
the bushes. and saw a large She
i panther coming through the trees,
followed by quarter grown cub. She
| circled round til mound Of leaves a
couple of times; the cub followed
4 every action of its mother. After
i 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 slow
u regular motion.
: When she had gathered her feet Al
: close together as she could, she
) sprang for the pile of leaves. Sh'
/, landed in the very middle of the pile
and gave several long, wicked Fakel
with her hind feet. Then she begal
J to smell and scratch in tie leaves. !
didn't take her long to find out tina
r there was nothing but an old lo
E there, and she stopped scratching an
) began to look about / thought tina
now was the time to settle matters
/ was a little t. her left and behin
her; I caught q sight just at the bas
of her ear, and fired She gave on
leap and shrill scream and the
lay still
] After making sure that she va
) dead, I looked for the cub. It va
!. sitting near by on the side Of q leal
!. ing tree, splitting and snarling angril1
Il I soon put an end to that with a riff
n ball never knew man so We
i hunted as / was without being hur
IS She probably took me for dead, an
g covered me to keep other animal
q from finding me while she went aftt
> her cub.-Y outh's Companion.