n6 



RECREATION 



believe. She seemed to say, "You can 

 all — -every one of you — go plumb to 

 thunder. I'm going to set!'' 



"But, Minnie, " began my aunt. 



She stopped ! Those determined 

 eyes ! It was too late to argue. Aunt 



Martha gazed at her long and silently. 

 A tear slipped into her eye, hesitated a 

 moment, and slid down her furrowed 

 cheek. She turned slowly away. 



"Minnie's just a woman," she said 

 brokenly, "and I don't blame her a bit/' 



PANTHER HUNTING BY AMATEURS 



By D. J. McGILLIVRAY 



UR camp on the Frio 

 River could not have 

 been better located. 

 It was situated on 

 rising ground amid 

 the live oaks that 

 fringed the banks of 

 the river. The shade, 

 drainage, etc., thus afforded was per- 

 fect, and game plentiful enough to 

 suit the most avaricious; in fact, our 

 larder being full we had let up on the 

 deer, turkey and quail. Doc and Mick- 

 ey had taken to fishing; Charlie was 

 away to the foot-hills for foxes, while 

 I busied myself with overhauling our 

 armament and doing other camp duties. 

 One day while thus engaged, Charlie 

 raced into camp with his eyes almost 

 starting from their sockets, saying: 

 "Mac, I seen a panther." "Where?" I 

 asked. "Over in those foot-hills." "Did 

 you take a shot at him ?" "You bet 

 not. I would not trust this 32-20 — don't 

 shoot strong enough. Say, you take 

 the Krag, I'll take the Springfield, and 

 we will go after him right away." 

 "Done," said I, "but wait — let us take 

 something to eat." While stuffing two 

 haversacks with corn-pone, cold quail 

 and bacon, Doc and Mickey arrived 

 in camp with a nice string of fish, and 

 to them Charlie related his experience. 

 "Well," said Mickey, "it's useless for 

 you to go after him now. Why don't 

 you wait until dark and bait him." 



"Bait him?" 1 asked. "What do you 

 mean?" "Why, just take some meat 

 and stake it out near where you saw 

 him, then get under cover and wait 

 until he comes." "A good idea," said 

 I, "but where will we get the bait?" 

 "That's easy," said Mickey. "Over in 

 yon hollow is the ribs of the last two 

 deer we killed, provided the coyotes 

 have not been around. Take these and 

 stake 'em out securely, as I told you." 



Off we went for the hollow, with- 

 out noticing the mischievous twinkle 

 in Mickey's eye. And, sure enough, the 

 ribs were there 2 but smelling fearfully 

 strong. However, our hunting fever 

 overcame this, and to tie them up and 

 drag them out of the hollow was the 

 work of a few minutes. 



An hour before sundown we started, 

 and had trudged but a short distance 

 when our bait became very oppressive, 

 causing us to relieve each other fre- 

 quently in carrying the load. On the 

 way we jumped three deer shortly after 

 leaving camp, and further on walked 

 plump into a bunch of wild turkeys 

 seeking roost, and the noise of their 

 taking flight made me think that every 

 tree in the thicket was falling down. 

 We carefully refrained from taking a 

 shot, as we were very near the panther's 

 lair. The night was well on when we 

 reached the place, and after depositing 

 our bait on a little plateau we crossed a 

 gully and took cover about eighty yards 



