280 FORTY-FOUR YEARS OF 



taken my stand, 1 leveled the rifle for a shot ; but finding 

 that the fore-sight was covered with ice, I wi}>ed off the 

 ice, and took aim a<!:ain. As his head was turned down, 

 looking at me, niid in such a position that a ball fired 

 between his eyes would pass directly to his brain, and see- 

 ing that he might become a bad customer, in case of any 

 accident, I took a deliberate aim, and fired. 



As the gun exploded, the panther sprang up the tree 

 with the activity of a squirrel, and ran up to the top, 

 where I could not see him for the numerous branches. 

 Not knowing what the next moment might produce, I 

 undertook to load quickly, when, on opening the box, out 

 fell all the caps but the one on the pin. Then it was that 

 good management was all important, and I thought if one 

 more shot did not finish the fight, something serious might 

 take place. I loaded carefully, placed the cap on right, 

 so that it should not miss fire, and stepped off to a greater 

 distance, so that I could see over the long limbs of the 

 tree. At length I saw him lying in a fork of the tree, 

 with his head covered by the limbs ; but even if it had 

 been a fair mark, I should have been afraid to shoot at it, 

 having missed it before. His heart was my aim this time ; 

 and his position was such, that I had to direct my shot 

 between the point of the shoulder and the neck-bone, so 

 that the ])all should pass to the heart without coming in 

 contact with the large bones of the shoulder. Seeing my 

 course clear, I took a good aim at my mark, and fired 

 again, when he fell some fifteen or twenty feet, but caught 

 hold of another limb with his sound fore-paw ; for his left 

 shoulder was broken by my last shot, after all ray caution 

 in erdeavoring to avoid those strong bones. There he 

 huiijs, I/O the limb, from which I expected every moment to 

 see him fall ; while I was unprovided with any means of 

 discharging my rifle, and had no tomahawk, nor an.v 

 weapon larger than a common pocket-knife. 



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