In and out among the branches; 6. And the rabbit from his pathway "Do not shoot me, Hiawatha." 7. But he heeded not nor heard them, For his thoughts were with the red deer; 8. Hidden in the alder bushes, There he waited till the deer came, 9. Then, upon one knee uprising, Hiawatha aimed an arrow; Scarce a twig moved with his motion, 10. Dead he lay there in the forest, LESSON XXXIX. TRAIL, track; footprints. IN' DI CA TED, pointed out; shown. 39 EN VEL' OP ED, inwrapped. COM' RADE, companion; associate. A DESPERATE ENCOUNTER WITH A PANTHER. Boy's Book OF ADVENTURES. 1. I HAD left the hunting party more than an hour, when I came upon the track of my old friend Konwell, who was, with his dogs, on the bloody trail of a panther. The animal must have had one of his legs broken; this was indicated by the marks on the soft ground; and it was plain that the tracks were made by three feet instead of four, and accompanied by blood at every leap. 2. I determined to follow; and, after a tramp of nearly an hour, I overtook my friend at the entrance of a cavern, where he stood waiting for me. The wounded animal had taken refuge in this cave, leaving us to do whatever we thought best. The poor beast doubtless supposed that within this murky recess he was safe from pursuit; but he was mistaken. Konwell informed me that he had hidden a bundle of pine splinters in a gulley, about half a mile distant, and that if I would keep guard over the mouth of the cave, he would go and bring it. 3. I agreed to this measure; and, with ready gun and drawn knife, prepared for any attack that might be made. I lay down at the entrance of the panther's cave. My friend soon returned, bringing the pine, as he had promised. His next movement was to kindle a large fire at the mouth of the cave, at which we lighted our torches; and, having taken the flambeaus in our left hand, while we carried our guns in the right, we cautiously entered the cave. I crept on before; but the space within soon became so high and roomy, that we could stand upright, and keep close to each other. 4. Bending toward the left, the cavity extended a considerable distance within the hill. After we had advanced about two hundred steps, we saw the glaring eyes of the wounded beast, which gleamed forth like two fiery balls, reflecting most luridly the light of our torches. Konwell now took my flambeau and stepped behind me. I leveled my gun in the direction of those flaming eyes, and fired. After the report, we heard a bustle; but could not exactly make out what it meant. 5. I reloaded my gun, resumed my torch, and Konwell now took his place in front. But, as those flaming eyes were no longer to be seen, we felt obliged to go farther. Our guns ready loaded, we believed ourselves to be prepared for any thing. We proceeded carefully, as men are likely to do when suspecting danger, when, instantly, the panther started up from a hollow, in which he was lying, quite close to our feet. 6. It was a fearful sight to look upon him as he stood with ears laid back, his white teeth set together, as if in intense anger, and those wide open eyes glowing and sparkling as they rested upon us, his assailants. I can never forget his appearance. In a moment our guns were discharged, and the cave returned the thundering echo. We had both fired so precisely at the same moment, that neither of us could believe the other had discharged his gun. 7. We were certain that our enemy had been struck, but we knew not whether killed or only disabled. Quick as thought, we dropped our guns and drew our knives from the sheath. And haste was necessary; for the echo had not relapsed into silence, before we felt the weight of the panther against us; and we began cutting at him with our knives, and, at the same moment, in consequence of our hurried movements, our torches died out, and we were left in utter darkness. 8. Deafened by the noise and utterly bewildered, I turned to fly from the now raging enemy, and only became perfectly aware of what I was doing, when I found myself standing beside Konwell outside the cave in the open air. I only know now, that, enveloped in thick darkness, and almost suffocated with the smoke of gunpowder, I groped about, not knowing what I wished or intended; and that Konwell, at last, drew me forcibly to the mouth of the cave. 9. There we stood, each one brandishing his huntingknife in his right hand, and holding the extinguished torch in the left; as we looked on each other, we scarcely knew whether to laugh or to be frightened at the strange figures we made. We were black with powder-smoke, covered with sweat and blood, and our clothing/torn to rags. 10. Konwell complained of a pain in his breast. I opened the bosom of his shirt, and found two deep gashes made by the panther's claws, extending from the left shoulder to the pit of the stomach. I also received a few scratches, but our stout hunting-shirts were torn to shreds. 11. Until this moment, neither of us had felt that he was wounded; and even now, before we began to think of dressing those wounds, we made a large fire at the mouth of the cavern, in order to prevent the panther from coming forth. This done, we sat down beside the genial, blaze to wash and bind up our scratches, and consult on what plan it was now best to proceed. 12. That the panther was still in the cave we were certain; but, whether living or dead, we did not know; at all events, he was wounded; for our hunting-knives were covered with blood quite up to the hilt. But we had no choice left; we must return; for our guns and Konwell's powder-flask, which the animal dragged off with him, still lay within the cavern. We therefore plucked up new courage; and, having relighted our torches, we brandished our knives, and prepared, though not without some heart throbbings, once more to enter the panther's den. 13. With light and cautious steps, lest we might be as unpleasantly surprised as we had been when we made our hasty retreat, we advanced, holding our torches before us, |