The Western outlook., 1916-02-05
FOOLED The PANTHER
UNCLE BILL OBJECTED TO FUR
NISHING HER MEAL.
Old FrontIersman Naturally Delights
Relating to His Grandchildren
How Narrowly He Escaped
From Hldeous DeSth.

Uncle Bill Joyce lives down In
southwestern Missouri, on the edge of
| the Ozark country. He has lived there
great many years, for he is an old
man now, and he Is full of entertain
T ing -~eminiscence, of the days wheE
| that corner of the state was still al
| most wilderness. Among the stories
he loves to tell the open-mouthed
children of a more sheltered genera
| ton is this account of lively adven-
ture with the animal that all old
frontiersmen used to call painter"
Uncle Bill will begin:
One day In the summer of 1857, I
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, l turned into
a small grove of walnut, oak and null
berry to hunt for squirrels. l got a
good many of them during the morn
ing. Once or twice l stopped to listen
to a queer noise that l could hardly
hear, it was so far away. 1t was a
long, quavering cry that died away
gradually. .ut it came no nearer,
and finally stopped altogether.
When it came noon, l went to a
spring / knew of and ate the lunch
that | had brought with me. Then l
thought l would go on to the prairie
and hunt for wild bees-that was real
ly what / had in mind when / started.
But I felt sleepy, and thought would
take nap first, and so l stretched
myself in a shady place and fell
asleep.
I woke a little later to find myself
covered with leaves and small brush.
l was puzzled sure enough, for
couldn't think what could have COW
cred me up, but decided to find out.
First l got dead log about six feet
long, laid it where l had slept, and
covered it with leaves and brush.
| looked to zee whether my gun was
loaded, and then l hid in a clump of
bushes some twenty or twenty-five
yards away. After about twenty min
utes heard - noise. / peered out of
the bushes, and saw large she
panther coming through the trees,
followed by quartergrown cub. She
circled round tho 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.
When she ha6 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. l thought that
now was the time to settle matters
was little tn her left and behind
her; I caught sight just at the base
of her ear, and fired. She gave one
leap and a shrill scream, and then
lay still.
After making sure that she was
dead, l looked for the cub. 1t was
sitting near by on the side of a lean
ing tree, splitting and snarling angrily
7 soon mt an end to that with a rife
ball. l never knew a man so we'll
hunted as I was without being hurt
She probably took me for dead, and
covered me to keep other animals
from finding me while she went after
her cub.-Youth's Companion.