168 A WILD-CAT HUNT IN CAROLINA. 



I reined up my horse, and took a hasty glance at 

 the Held. The movement of the cat was generally 

 seen, and some were riding to get near, and some 

 dismounting to get nearer; and many a gun was 

 cocked, and many an eye fixed, and many a 

 finger feeling for the trigger. This, then, is my 

 chance, thought I ; and off went one barrel, 

 charged with duck-shot, apparently without effect ; 

 for the cat, with huge leaps, clambered up a tree ; 

 and now he had reached the very pinnacle, and as 

 he gathered himself up to take a flying leap for a 

 neighboring tree, I caught up my gun, and let slip 

 at him in mid-flight. The arrowy posture in which 

 he made his pitch, was suddenly changed, as the 

 shot struck him to the heart ; and doubling himself 

 up, after one or two wild gyrations, into a heap, he 

 fell dead, from a height of full fifty feet, into the 

 very jaws of the dogs ! It proved to be a female, 

 smaller than the first cat, but beautifully spotted. 



We stopped not long to admire, for the sun had 

 now passed his meridian full two hours, and we 

 had more than five miles to ride to our dinner. 

 .Behold us, then, in full gallop on our return. At 

 three miles' distance from the town, we took up our 

 first cat ; and part of the field exchanged the sad- 

 dle for a barouche, which here awaited us. And 



