84 EARLY DAY STORIES. 



miles, generally three or four teams together. About two 

 years ago two men came, having a wagon and team each, 

 and stopped at my well for water. They went down into 

 the timber, got loaded up and camped over night, being all 

 ready to pull out in the morning. The next morning they 

 had harnessed the horses and tied them to the loaded wagons 

 and fed them their grain, and were frying bacon for their 

 own breakfast, when they saw the two mountain lions not 

 far away, looking at them and sniffing the air as if they 

 smelled the bacon. They did not come very near at first, 

 and the men hooked up after finishing breakfast and pulled 

 out, followed by the lions. One of the men had a rather 

 small, short-legged dog, and the lions seemed bent on catch- 

 ing him. They came up closer and closer, and would have 

 caught the dog only he kept right under the front axle be- 

 tween the wheels. One of the men had a loose chain on 

 his load, which he would shake at the lions, and this fright- 

 ened them some, but they followed on, almost to my house, 

 when they turned and loped back to the hills." 



Of the smaller wild animals that were found here when 

 the county was first settled, some have diminished in num- 

 ber, and some have greatly increased. It was very seldom 

 that a skunk was found, either the large striped kind or the 

 small spotted variety, commonly but incorrectly called the 

 civet cat. Now both varieties are numerous. Racoons, 

 badgers, and wildcats are occasionally found now, but are 

 not nearly as plentiful as formerly. The fox squirrel was 

 here at first, but was very rare, while at the present time, 

 being protected by law, they have greatly increased, and 

 are found in the groves all over the country. 



There is one animal of the fox kind that has probably 

 entirely disappeared. It is the small gray prairie fox, com- 

 monly called the swift, so named from the swiftness with 

 which it runs. It has none of the cunning of its relative, the 

 red fox, and is easily trapped. These animals were quite 



