134 HUNTING THE PANTHER. 



an &quot;accident &quot; happening to his dog upon the very place 

 where we then camped. He said he was camped there, 

 had his mosquito bar pitched, and had gone to sleep. 

 Something, he knew not what, awoke him, just in time to 

 see a dark body leap over his bar and pounce upon the 

 dog. There was a short struggle, and then the worthy 

 guide was minus a good dog. He didn t take part in 

 the fight, but was a quiet, if not disinterested, spectator. 

 Sometimes they will manifest the utmost contempt 

 for man, and will seem to take delight in keeping him in 

 suspense. An old &quot;live-oaker&quot; told me that he came 

 upon two panthers in a narrow trail, and that they 

 walked ahead of him to the shore of the river, where 

 one of them sat down and refused to move. Upon his 

 companion throwing a &quot;chunk of light wood,&quot; at it, it 

 merely started a little, and snarled in a way that con 

 vinced the two live-oakers that it &quot;wasn t goin to stan 

 no nonsense.&quot; They left him there. Another live-oaker, 

 a chopper, was engaged in squaring a fallen tree,- when a 

 full-grown panther came up and quietly carried away his 

 dinner, which lay upon the other end of the log. This 

 act, though very gracefully and daintily done,*eo alarmed 

 the man that he dropped his axe and ran into camp, a 

 mile or more. But the panther devoured his dinner. 



FRED BEVERLY. 



