24 
THE COUGAR. 
lieved to be a man, crawling- towards them on his hands ji 
and feet; for they could hear first one hand press gently ) 
on the leaves, as if to avoid making a noise, then a foot 
seemed to be lifted up, and set softly down, and then the ) 
other hand, and foot in the same way. The men now 
had no doubt, but the robbers had found out where they 
lay, and had come for their money. When therefore, i 
he had got, as they thought, within about ten feet of 
them, they touched each other as a signal, and both | 
sprang up, and ran some distance through the woods, ^ 
and lay down again, hoping to avoid the robbers in this ) 
way. After this, they heard their horses snorting, and s 
bounding through the woods, with the greatest violence; ( 
but they did not dare to get up, and see what was the ( 
matter, for fear of the robbers. ^ 
When day light came, they could not at first find their ( 
horses, but having climbed up into a tree, they saw ( 
them, at a distance, and set off to catch them. On going j 
near these animals, they saw blood on them, and in a ) 
moment knew what had happened. A cougar, instead ’ 
of a robber had awakened them, and had chased their ? 
horses through the woods, and torn the poor creatures so ) 
dreadfully that they could hardly walk. It was this ) 
animal, creeping softly towards them, that they took for > 
the coming of the robber, on his hands and feet, and > 
they must therefore have been in very great danger of > 
being torn in pieces by him. ) 
How thankful these men ought to have been to their > 
Creator, for having watched over their lives during the > 
darkness of the night, and when so ferocious a beast as > 
the Cougar was close upon them. We do not always ) 
know, it is true, when our lives are in danger, nor when ^ 
we shall die. But to escape so sudden and dreadful a \ 
death, as that of being torn in pieces, by wild beasts, l 
should certainly call forth our thanks to that Great Being, < 
in whose hands are both life and death. 
ANECDOTE II. t 
The substance of the following story is also from Dr. c 
Godman’s Natural History, and is here told to show the ) 
great strength and savage ferocity of the Cougar. !> 
Some years since, two hunters, with their two dogs, / 
went into the woods in search of game, near theCatskill i 
mountains. Coming to a large hill, they agreed to go } 
around it, one going one way, and the other going the \ 
other way, so as to meet on the other side of the hill. ? 
Each man took his dog with him, and it was understood ! 
that if either should find any game, he should fire his ) 
rifle, when the other would go to him as soon as he could. 
Soon after parting, one of them fired his gun, which the 
other hearing, ran towards the place from whence the 
sound came, to find his companion, but could not at first 
see, or hear any thing of him. After looking for some 
time, he found his companion’s dog torn in pieces and 
dead. This gave him dreadful alarm, for fear the man 
had also been killed, as he could see nothing of him. 
While looking about to find him, he heard a terrible 
growl, nearly over his head, and looking up, saw a Cou¬ 
gar on a large tree, having in his claws the dead body of 
his companion, which he had just killed and carried up 
there. He was struck with horror at such a sight, but at 
the same time saw that his own life was in danger, for 
the Cougar was making ready to spring upon him also. 
Knowing that he should not, by firing, hurt his compan¬ 
ion, who was already dead, and thinking that if he did 
not kill the ferocious beast, he should be killed himself, 
he took good aim, and fired at him. The Cougar in¬ 
stantly fell from the tree, along with the dead body of 
the man, affording a dreadful sight, which the living 
man was obliged to behold. As soon as they came to the 
ground, the dog rushed upon the Cougar, but the fierce 
beast, though mortally wounded, gave him such a terri¬ 
ble blow with his paw, as to lay him dead by his side. 
The living man now ran for help, for his rifle was not 
loaded, and he did not know but the cruel beast would 
destroy him after all. He soon came back with several 
persons, to witness a horrid sight, for there lay the Cou¬ 
gar dead on the ground, and near him the lifeless body 
of the man, and those of the two faithful dogs, torn in 
pieces. 
The skin of this Cougar, it is said, is still preserved, in 
the New York Museum. 
We may learn from this sad story, that every person, 
whether young or old, ought to be prepared to die sud¬ 
denly, for no one can tell when his death will come. 
This hunter, when he went into the woods, thought he 
should return home again to his friends, alive and well. 
He did not think that day would be his last day, nor 
that a wild beast would be the means of his death. This 
shows how little we know of what a day may bring forth, 
and is a warning, that in the midst of life we are in death. 
Let us then always be careful how Ave do wrong, for we 
do not know that we shall have time to repent of our 
sins, before we are called out of the \\ r orld, and brought 
to our final account. 
