" floating carcass and glanced down the river. "I know that I must have given vent to a low laugh of decided satisfaction. Nothing else could have been more opportune. My own safety and the safety of my property, would, apparently, in a few moments be secured. "At the distance of a few rods below me lay a solitary prostrate pine, stretching from the base of the precipice across the waters to a great bouider in the middle of the stream. "With the intention to avail myself of the opportunity, I sprang forward, and, reaching the place, began to cross this foot-log. It was rotten with age; the bark had dropped from it, the limbs had been worn to the body; the top had been broken and carried away, so that only a thick log, fully three feet wide on top, was thus left bridging the waste of waters. "I had no difficulty in crossing it, and a moment after I was on the immense flat boulder to which it extended. Just then the deer drifted within reach, and, grasping it by the spreading antlers, I drew it up beside me. I then felt safe. It was well that affairs happened as they did, for immediately, as though borne on eagle's wings, darkness swept up the river, shrouding everything in its folds. A STRANGE SENTINEL.- THE ANIMAL LEAPED JUST AS I SWUNG THE GUN his death. With a terrified snort at sight of me, he "Not such an unsuccessful day, after all,' I thought, perhaps spoke aloud. 'A lesser illustration of the mountain coming to Mohammed.' "The waters were washing and drifting the still slightly struggling buck down the stream, pushing it bodily over the low, black boulders, and swinging it round in the bubbling rapids. I followed along, awaiting and expecting a sudden turn to sweep it to the bordering rocks, where, without the trouble of wading, I could take the prize into my possession. For some distance I kept pace with the swift flow of the current, giving me the time to cool from the excitement of the incident, and bringing me to the calm conviction that the game would not by any means be secure even if I did get it in haná. "The cliffs towering overhead were undoubtedly infested with wild cats and panthers. To leave unprotected on the rocks such a feast as this buck would afford would insure me nothing more than a highly polished skeleton in the morning. "There were just the last faint glimmerings of daylight in the clouded sky. I had forgotten all about a place for the night, and now, as the idea came back to me, I turned my eyes from the "The silence of the gorge was broken but by the Silver Racket, tumbling with wildest music along the foot of the massive cliffs that climbed out of sight into the night. As it happened, no wind was stirring over the "THE PANTHER HAD STRUCK MY CHEST. I FELL AS THOUGH HIT BY A CANNON-BALL." waters, and, in spite of its being in November, the air was as mild as in June, quite pleasant enough to sleep out with nothing over you but the dark pall of sky. "The trophy of the day's hunt lay close against the end of the pine. If darkness had not spread so rapidly, I would have skinned the buck, and, with a mind to the situation, would have put it into use as an extempore mattress. "As it was, I used the whole body as a pillow; and, stretching myself out on the cold stone, with my face upturned to the clouded sky, and my loaded rifle under my arm, I soon drifted into unconsciousness. "I was very tired. The day's chase had been a most exhaustive one, and I, consequently, slept in a deep and healthy manner, swinging in oblivion to the tumultuous anthem of the stream. My dreams bore heavy on my mind, and by their vividity I was drawn back into wakefulness. "My first sensation on awakening was of something smoothly brushing my upturned face. Back and forth, with measured stroke, it softly moved across my features. "My immediate impulse was to grasp this singular thing, whatever it was, and force it away, but some inward monitor restrained me. "I opened my eyes. It was very light overhead. First one eye was darkened, then the other, by the object. It did not at once strike me what it was, but without stirring I formed my conclusions. It was a hairy substance, the tail of some animal; and then, that instant, as if to put a clincher on this conclusion, the shrill cry of the American lion rang out almost directly over my head, and loud above the tumult of the waters. It was answered by several equally as fierce and bloodchilling screams from the rocky bank beyond. "Were the latter screams echoes of the first ? of the stream; the remaining one, with its forepaws rest. ing on the base of the pine, was crouching in an attitude similar to the panther near my head. Their three pair of scintillating eyes were fastened on the group of which I was a member. "I understood the situation. The panther above me was on guard. A sleepless sentinel was watching over me. "This solution of the affair seemed the most plausible; it was the only satisfactory explanation that could be made. Some few minutes previously, on the search for prey, this strange sentinel had discovered me and my game, and, believing me dead, he had crossed the log, but had not yet had time to commence an onslaught when the three other skulking and hungry beasts made an appearance. "He was now protecting his own-the living man and the dead buck-but, undoubtedly, not with any futuro fair intentions. His bloodthirsty disputants had a narrow bridge to pass, and a guard to encounter singly as fierco as themselves. "For the tim being I was safe. I could do nothing better than lie still and await the result of what, it appeared, would soon end in a sanguinary conflict. Then, with a lesser number of the ferocious beasts to encounter, relying on my trusty rifle and bowie, I might finish the victors, or, as a last resort, quit the fray by plunging in the ice-cold torrent. "After such a struggle as seemed impending, maddened from wounds, and fierce with the taste and scent of blood, a single one of those American lions would neither retreat from the presence of a human being, nor from anything but a most formidable antagonist. "I thought not; apparently a whole colony of these began slowly advancing toward the crouching sentinel. ferocious animals were awake and around me. The latter did not wait for him, but, as though hot for "My God! The air was too heavy to breathe; my fight, sprang forward upon the head of the approaching blood seemed halted in its flow. I regained control of myself, and cautiously drew from my belt the keen-bladed bowie which I always carry; but I was undecided how to act. I could not understand the situation. "With the idea of obtaining a view of my surroundings, I slowly and carefully bent my head back as far as possible. "The narrow strip of open sky between the black walls of the cañon was what first caught my eyes. The clouds had been scattered by a sharp west wind; every star gleamed brightly in the deep vault, and a round-faced moon stood, as it seemed, stationary and cold overhead. "Crouching on the end of the log was the owner of the tail that even then swung slowly across my chin. His white, lower body lay close to the log, and, with his dark, supple form knit together, he appeared prepared for a spring, or ready for an unexpected attack. In vain I bent further backward on the deer to get a glimpse of the thing that riveted the attention of the wary panther. "I was afraid of making much of a movement; but, relying on the tumult of the river to drown all slight noise which I might make, I gradually turned over so as to command a full view of the scene. "Across the white stretch of seething waters at the foot of the giant cliffs were three more full-grown American lions, or panthers. Two of them, lashing their flanks with their tails, moved back and forth close to the edge lion. "A stroke of lightning could have done no quicker or more effective execution. The shock of the onslaught unbalanced the one who received it. With a convulsive effort to recover hold on the rotten log, and a blind, fruitless endeavor to fasten its claws into its adversary, the struck panther, giving utterance to a cry of rage and agony that pierced the air like an arrow, fell, with a loud splash, into the waters, and was whirled out of sight under the shadows of the rocks. "My sentinel turned around and was coming back to his old station, when one of the remaining panthers that had already mounted the log sprang on the former's haunches. He turned on the instant. It was Greek meeting Greek. "The most thrilling spectacle that I had ever witnessed or heard of was then presented to my eyes. They struggled almost over my head, and so near that I could feel their hot breath. "It was an equal combat between two of the fiercest of American wild animals. I forgot my own danger in the excitement created by the scene. The battle-ground was too contracted to admit of a long-continued struggle, and at length, locked in each other's tearing embrace, they rolled, without a cry, off the log, and, still fastened together in a death-clutch, were drawn under the surface and borne away by the rapids. "The enemy had removed the guard, but one only was left to finish what the others had opened a way to. As he advanced I drew up my rifle. He noticed the move, stopped as though surprised, and gave vent to a shrill cry. The light was not sufficiently bright to enable me to see the sights plainly; but, relying on habit to secure my aim, I pointed the rifle and fired. "The animal snarled with rage, crouched and leaped just as I swung, by the barrel, the empty gun around my head. It cut nothing but the air, and the stock was shivered into pieces on the pine. "The panther had struck my chest. I fell as though hit by a cannon-ball. My body lay on the rock, my head hung in the water, and the panther was turned clear over me, but with forepaws fastened to my clothes. "I cannot explain how I freed myself; but, after a desperate struggle, I tore him from me. The deep scars on my cheeks are the marks left by his sharp claws. The river carried him away; and, almost drowned, bleeding, bruised and exhausted, I drew myself back on the rock. "Four panthers had been finished in one night! And so ends the narrative of how I was watched over by one of the fiercest of all wild animals that haunt these mountains." Every man's eyes in the cabin were shining with the excitement caused by the recital. We all arose as he finished. "That's a rattling hunter's story, Burk," said one. "You deserve a medal from the Government and the title of The Panther-slayer.'" "As we cannot secure him that, boys," remarked another, "let us give him three cheers." And, given with a gusto, they rang through the room, swept out of the open door, and blended with the roar beyond of the Silver Racket. THE MIDNIGHT FRIGHT. My Amanda and her mother resided in the suburbs of the town. It was an old-fashioned, square brick mansion, built soon after the Revolution, ponderous, gloomy, and, at the time of my story, of a green dampness. Some old trees shaded it thickly-so thickly, the sun rarely brightened up its dark, time-discolored walls. The gardens about it were black and loamy, rank with the growth of shrubbery and weeds. Now the earth carries it around on its bosom no more. First, one of the avenues came, thrusting forward its huge body, crushing through the old trees, trampling under foot the garden growths, and even nipping off an intruding angle; then from another point came a younger but no less insatiable and relentless highway, tearing through the parlors, the wainscot walls, the lordly old halls, and setting itself down upon the very foundations of the old structure. Thus was the mansion of my once Amanda blotted from sight. A green-grocer now holds forth upon the once treasured spot. I will pause sometimes upon the curb-stone at the intersecting highway, and drop a tear to the memory of the old place-a tear to see the old ground so desecrated. Regularly, as the clock struck seven, I was wont to present myself at the old mansion. The door always opened as I placed my foot upon the front-door step. Amanda always came out of the shadows in the parlor (never lighted until my arrival), and put her two hands in mine; then my arm would always wind around her waist; then we would saunter in together, and if our lips met in the darkness, what was it to any one ?-what was it even to the domestic, whom I would sometimes hear smothering a laugh in the passage? When ten o'clock came for Amanda and her mother were precise and methodical-I would invariably rise, and after a tearful parting, depart on my way to my lodgings, some two miles distant. But upon one occasion-and now I am coming to my story-there was a terrible storm, which increased so much in violence, hour by hour, that when the inexorable mantel clock struck the hour of ten, both Amanda and her mother insisted upon my acceptance of their hospitality for the night. Ar twenty years of age I was in love. It does not matter to the reader how I came to be in love. It is but of little importance to him, and none at all to this story, when I first met my dear Amanda—or who, indeed, my dear Amanda was. It is quite sufficient for me to say that my dear Amanda was the dearest creature; that she had blue eyes; great long golden locks, which she would "Conduct Mr. Dove to the crimson chamber," said the shake at me in the most bewitching manner; nice, pearly senior lady to the elderly servant who presented himself, teeth; a dimple in her chin; blooming cheeks (alas! I candle in hand. I followed my guide up a steep, narafterward discovered that her bloom was imported), and row, and lengthened staircase, and through a series of as pretty a little hand as one would wish to see. My roomy, deserted apartments, where articles not in freyouthful susceptibility was easily impressed with charms quent use were stowed away. The servant, I observed like these. I had read a great many love tales, and was stamped heavily as he approached the chamber, hemmed looking about for some one for whom I could experience loudly, and looked frequently back over his shoulder, to that rapturous passion, which they so warmly describe, see if I were following. When he reached the apartment, when accident threw me in the way of Amanda. I went he fairly backed into it, placed the light hastily on a table to work at once. I began to love with all the fervor, denear the door, and giving a furtive glance around, rushed votion and intensity that I could command. I will not hurriedly, and with undisguised terror, from the room. I stop to confess that a suspicion continually preyed upon called him back. He came unwillingly. me that my raptures were in some degree manufactured; "What's the matter, Joe ?" said I. nor will I pause to cast back, with the disdain and con- "Sir-nothing-sir.' tempt they so richly deserve, the insinuations of mercenary motives which were uttered against me. Could I help the fact that my Amanda was the only daughter of n rich widow ? or that she had a large expectancy from a wealthy maiden aunt ? These things were accidents. Amanda and I often confessed to each other how happy we should be in a cottage, or in some lone isle, where only our two hearts beat (and all that sort of thing), and I assert with confidence, that Amanda at any moment would have abandoned friends, rank and fortune for my sake-had I permitted it. Are my detractors convinced? But this is all foreign to my purpose. It is a ghost and not a love story that I am going to relate. "I should think there was. What are you alarmed at? Is the room haunted?" 66 'Ye-yes, that's it, sir. It be haunted." The poor fellow fairly trembled. I laughed, but as I turned to look within the apartment, a sensation of awe involuntarily thrilled me. The walls, though of crimson, were of so deep and sombre a hue, they might have passed for black. The dark wainscot; the heavy window-hangings; the huge bedstead, with its dark crimson curtains looming up grimly and awfully in the centre of the apart ment; the dense shadows piled up behind the bedstead, within the folds of the curtains, and flickering strangely and grotesquely upon the walls and ceiling; the dismal howl of the storm without, as the old trees beat against | sigh, close to the head of my bed. I listened with open the window-shutters, and the rushing of the wind, with mouth, and eyes striving to penetrate the darkness. It shrill, human-like cries through the halls and empty was repeated. It was not fancy, nor the wind, but a deep, rooms-all these things combined, and no wonder, to audible, continuous breathing, of a moaning, sigh-like produce sensations of indescribable terror and awe. character. I held my breath and listened, while I could I dismissed the attendant, and closed the door. The feel my hair straighten up, and the blood curdle around silence, broken only by the wailings of the storm, was my heart. Again I heard it, louder this time, and, to my fairly appalling; but I bustled around, took care not to imagination in its excited state, it sounded like a fearful look at the awful shadows, and hurriedly throwing off my groan of one in agony. Terror took entire possession of clothes, leaped into bed. I laughed at my superstitious me. I sprang with a sudden bound into the middle of awe, tried to shake it off, began to stare boldly about the the floor, and, with all the haste I could, struck a light. room, and to express my contempt for the weakness I Nothing was visible. The dense shadows which my dim had been guilty of. But I found it more agreeable to taper drove into the corners, and behind the huge taberturn my gaze inward, and to nestle down closely under nacle of a bed, looked frightful, and assumed shapes gaunt, HOW TO SETTLE THE ATTORNEYS. "I STOOD UP, AND LOOKING FIRST AT ONE ATTORNEY, AND THEN AT THE OTHER, I SAID, WITH A SOLEMN VOICE, I ADJOURN THIS COURT FOR A MONTH." -SEE PAGE 106. warm coverlets, with the hope of wooing oblivious slumber to my eyelids. But I could not sleep. The storm was increasing. The trees around the house groaned and shrieked as if in dying agony. Billows of wind roared down the wide chimney, swept screaming through every cranny and crevice, till, hushed and soothed, the blast would appear to sob itself to rest, dying plaintively away, until suddenly starting up with fiercer power. I was getting nervous, tossing from side to side, in vain attempting to keep pleasant subjects in mind, almost smothering myself beneath the coverlets, until profuse perspiration forced me to gain breath, and involuntarily gaze around. Suddenly I sprang up in bed, my brow loaded with drops of perspiration, while my breath was short and thick. I assuredly heard a sigh-a long-drawn moaning skeleton-like and terrible. The perspiration rolled from my forehead. My knees smote together. My teeth chattered, and I could only gasp for breath. Now, when I look back at it, I am as ready to laugh as the reader is, at the absurdity of my fears; but then it was all a terrible reality to me. At last I mustered sufficient courage to approach the bed, with a view of searching out the cause of the mysterious noise. I opened the closets at each side of the bed, where hung dust-covered, moth-eaten, superannuated suits of clothes, which shook as the wind rushed in and disturbed their long repose. Neither sigh nor sound was there. I stooped to look under the bed, when a shrill, loud whistle behind me (probably the wind rushing through the keyhole) was answered close to me by an unearthly noise, a fierce howling, and a dashing, scrambling noise. I sprang back as if I had been shot. |