Connecticut western news., 1918-07-25
IN DUEL TO DEATH
Brave Old Buck Proved Himself
 True Knight.
Exhibition of Woodland ChlvaIry That Impressed Hunters in the Florida Everglades So Much They
 Spared the Victors Life.

A couple of hunters on the border of the Florida Everglades were sur prised to hear the wild shorts and whistles of a buck in fight, mingled with the plaintive bleats of a doe in distress-a combination of sounds that was unaccountable. The men crept cautiously up, and in five minutes reached the edge of an open glade.
 In the center crouched a doe, wild only a few hours old, still too weak to follow its mother, while the old buck, with bristling hair, and antlers lowered, stood by, snorting in rage and defiance. His eyes, green with rage, followed some object moving in the palmetto scrub on the border of the glade.
 Looking carefully, the hunters saw young panther passing backward and forward in an effort to turn the flank of the defense and get at the. fawn. A wiser beast would have aban- doned the attack Gs soon as such a defender went on guard, but this panther was evidently in the full flush of his first strength, and without ex- perience of the prowess of an old buck at bay.
 Forward and back he crawled, spit ting and snarling, only to find the buck always between him and the doe. At last he crouched for the spring. The buck, snorting grimly, braced all his muscles for the coming crash; he appreciated his danger, but dared the worst. The doe whimpered and closed her eyes, but did not desert her fawn.
 The panther rose in the air and came down within ten feet of the buck. Then the buck went into the air, and falling with his feet together on the struggling cat, seemed to stab him through and through. Immediately the buck rose again and landed a dozen feet away. Then he lowered his head and plunged at the panther.
 There was a confusion of flying dirt and grass, and again the deer sprang away. There were now deep cuts on his head and neck, and his antlers were splashed with red.
 The panther now tried to creep away, but again the buck leaped, stab bed with his feet together and sprang away. The cat now lay gasping, while the buck watched him with his hair stiffened into a mane and eyes that nearly bulged from his head. Then the hunters walked forward.
 When the buck saw them he must have realized that he was completely in their power. His proud crest fell, and he lost all the swelling part of the victory but still he showed no inten- tion of deserting the doe, but moved off and stood beside her. She crouched down again with the fawn.
 The hunters walked over quietly and examined the panther. He was very badly cut up. Both shoulders were broken, and the antlers had passed re- peatedly through his body. During the examination the buck stood quietly in plain view, and no gladiator saluting Caesar and conscious of being about to die ever showed more dignity. Without a word the hunters walked off the field and left the old knight alone in his glory. Had he not shown knightly quaIities-the chivalry that protects the weak, the courage that braves all odds in good cause, and finally a dignified submission to what seemed the inevltablef