286 



FORTY-FOUR YEARS OF 



killed the panther within the limits of the county, and 

 then draw on the county treasury for my premium. Thia 

 was the prescribed legal mode for securing the premium 

 allowed for the heads of wolves and panthers. 



I did not finish my task until after dark, when I left his 

 earcass lying in the road, and set out for Mr. Calmes's 

 house. Mr. C. was well advanced in years, and had also 

 become so corpulent that he could not hunt any more, but 

 had been a good hunter in his time, and, like myself at 

 present, was very fond of talking about what had been 

 done in bygone days. I walked fast, and, although I had 

 been traveling all day, from early breakfast until an hour 

 after dark, and fully half that time on a run, yet I felt 

 neither weakness nor fatigue. When I reached the gate, 

 a negro boy ran into the house, and told his master that 

 Mr. Browning was coming ; and by the time I got into 

 the house, he was up, had drawn on his pants, and, with 

 every sign of satisfaction, was entering the room to meet 

 me. He untied the skin, took out the head, and examined 

 the great teeth, saying : " Them cursed teeth have been 

 the death of many a fine deer, that might have been yet 

 alive in the woods." Then he requested me to give him 

 the details of my hunt. I told him where I started the 

 trail in the morning, and that, fearing I should not over- 

 take the panther until night, on level ground I ran at a 

 moderate gait, and down hill I ran fast. After hearing 

 my description, as he was well acquainted with all the 

 ground I had passed over, he said that I had traveled 

 from thirty-five to forty miles, and I was then fifteen miles 

 from home. 



We talked until ten o'clock, when we retired to the same 

 room, as his lady being in Cumberland, there was not a 

 white person about the house but he and myself. We 

 continued our conversation after we went to bed ; and 

 about twelve o'clock the mail-boy came along, blowing 



