THE NEGRO AND THE PANTHERS. 193 



attacked by a panther in the forest when my gun was 

 empty, saying that the negro-man whom I had seen, had 

 once been attacked by two. The man was called in, and 

 told to take off his shirt, and there — on his breast, and 

 arms, and shoulders, were deep scars, which had been 

 ploughed by the sharp talons of the great American cats. 

 When the negro had left, his master gave me the follow- 

 ing account of the encounter. I cannot, of course, at this 

 distance of time, give the words of my host, but this is 

 a tolerably correct account : 



Some of S 's horses had been absent without 



leave rather longer than they ought to have been, 



and S gave his servant orders to go the first 



thing in the morning and see if he could not find 

 them, and drive them home. At daylight the negro 

 started, following a * wood's-road ' (a road made for 

 hauling timber along), hoping he might see some 

 * signs ' of the missing horses. 



On either side of the road was some ' switch-cane ' 

 (the new growth where a fire has burnt down an old 

 cane-brake), and the negro noticed, at one place, that 

 the dewdrops had been brushed from the young 

 cane-stalks by the passage of some animal, and think- 

 ing, perhaps, it might be caused by the missing 

 horses, he thought he would follow it. 



After following the trail for some ten or fifteen 

 steps, he was horrified to find a large panther stretched 

 in his path, waving its tail from side to side, as a 







