A WINTER NIGHT'S CHASE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 293, 11 December 1899, Page 7

A WINTER NIGHT'S CHASE.

At about the end of February, 18f>i>, gilns Bendix and Ichabod Trundy were encamped in the forest on the shore of Chesuncoqk Lake, far north in the State of Maine. They were making a regular business of supplying' the neighbouring lumber camps with moose beef and deer meat. On a point of land projecting into the lake stood their snug log camp, warmed by a stone fireplace, and large enough comfortably to house the two .hunters and their dogs, Spot .and Tige. Spot, owned by Trundy, was a pov erfiil English staghound, brave ;r. gentle, with a mellow cry as he rant, ihe woods that, was good 1n hen. Bendix's Tige was a "yallcr" dog— a big, savage mongrel, with all the unpleasant traits or character that, in Jfew England estimation, go with his tint of skin.

Tige was bad-tempered with everybody, savage towards strangers, and an oppressor of smaller dogs. He had jiis merits as a farm dog, and was useInl to his master in that iniquitous form <>f killing game known as erustjiiintiug", then in vogue, in which deer and moose, wallowing helpless through deep snow, were followed to their death by hunters on snow-shoes and their dogs, whom the frozen crust would uphold.

One afternoon the hunters returned to camp in good spirits, having killed a moose, cut it. up. and hung the pieces upon tree limbs out of the reach of wolves and foxes. Having eaten Slipper and made sure thai enough wood was prepared for the night, for the weather had turned very cold, they felt ready to turn in to sleep. But before roiling himself up in his blankets Bendix looked out at the door.

"Going to be a cold snap, I calculate," he remarked. "It'll stiffen the crust up so we can tote that moose meat in easy to-morrow." "If it keeps on getting colder at. tin's rate," said Trinidy. " it'll be ;i good day to stay right hern in camp anil tend fire. The ineat'll keep."

"We can tell better 'about ihat when to-morrow comes," said Bendix. " I'm

thankful we're' in a warm camp tn nijj-lit and not outdoors." He closed Ilio door and threw some split wood on the fire, which blazed up brightly. With its lights and shadows (lancing on the walls find splint, roof, the weary hunters lay down to sleep on their bod of hemlock boughs, where

the dogs were already curled up dreamingl, perhaps, of hunting.

"Y-a-o-u-w-w-ow-ow-w-w ! *" came a screech, startlingly loud and clear, from somewhere outside Ihe camp. The dogs lifted their beads, and Tige grovvl-

"That hicivee's round early hollering 'or meat !" muttered Bendix, half :i-

eep. \ Once again sounded the screech

was answered by a similar cry train somewhere off in the forest, and then the cry of the first lynx came from farther away. a y ncl al], was stillness hi and about the camp. .

'It was midnight when Bendix woke to find the fire low and the camp cold. He got up and ;vcnt. to the door to replenish the tin: from the'wood-pile jilst without the doorway. From a

clear sky the Slavs shone brightly through 'the frosty air, and the full Moon's cold .light.irradiated the white level of the lake'and the" (lark forms of a group of imiiuals'on the ice. . They appeared as large as good-sized logs. AVith the motion and activity of cats they wore having a great frolic, chasing one another about in surprising leaps am! darl.s to left and right. Benciix forgot his errand for wood as he watched'their performance.

''Five, six; sever.—that one coming makes eight hieivees." lie counter], at sonic pains to make sure ..of the right mrmlVer, owing to the quickness with which the animals moved about. " lehahocl ought to see 'em." He stepped-softly back into the camp and bonding down, shook his comrade's shoulder. "Ik! Ichabod ! Wake up !" he said. "There's something1 T want to show you.". "What is it, Site,?" asked Trundy, rousing himself from the ' blankets. "Ugh, I thought I'd waked up;, outdoors!" he added, shivering- in-the draught of cold air that: cariie in through the doorway. - --" , "Just get up aiul look !" said Bendix. "All the lucivees in the township are skylarking out there on the

ice.".. .■ Trnndy got upon his feet and joined his comrade at the door. "Well, that iSii sight !" he exclaimed'; then he instinctively turned toward his rifle leaning'in a corner of the camp. "No chance to hit "cm at that distance/ be said, "but I Inn give 'em a scare." "Hold on a b\\. I've got a better plan;" said Bondix. as a sudden thought made him chuckle. "We'll put the dogs at Vm. It'll just be fun

to see 'em scatter. 5' Pausing only long enough to draw their boots on and find their hats, the tranters roused the dogs, and each 'along his animal by the collar, they H them down to the shore, showed them-the lynes. said. " Sick 'em, Spot!" "Sick 'em', Tige !" and let them go. The dogs were half-way down to the lynxes before they saw them. At once the lynxes scattered, going in'several directions at. first, but every one quickly turned his course toward the shore. Spot header! one of them. off. and learlj' seized him ; but the lynx, unslile to get by him. turned' and ran toward'the middle of the lake with the found in close pursuit. Tige, with great confidence, tackled toother lynx—a big one, which did not ,'ako much pains to avoid him. There *«s;A:jumble of gray and yellow bodX a hissing, snarling, growling .on 'to ice for a moment, and then the 'j'Dx went scooting like an erratic, fay .meteor for the shore, with Tige 'lose behind him.

Regarding- only the dog; the lynx jprang U p the bank, passing- between we two hunters as if he had not seen nem.' There was no large tree on ■"'point in which to take refuge, the % was pressing- him close, and the «atnp. with its open doorway lay di- *:% in his path. Into it the lynx appeared, with Tige at his heels, there came from the l^ness within the noise of a snapp%fight. This is more fun than I've had in ?^ar," said Bendix, as, laughing, the •wo. Hunters ran to the camp. But Oef °re they could get there Tige had •".the fighting- he wanted, and was: f P'lff. He evidently had some djffi-, C|% in getting clear .of the lynx, but ("".'"g the doorway just as the huners got to the threshold, the yellow '°S shot.out between the legs of his pter, nearly upsetting him, and ran as hard as he coiild run. ih&lynx was in full possession of the '™P, and the two hunters, who had ; r gotten the co]d in the excitement of ac chase, began to shiver. How could

. they, without weapons, get the savage brute out of their hut ? Trundy threw a stick of firewood into the camp to rout out the lynx. The sound of a jump and rustling was the response he got to this attention. He picked up another stick, and advancing to the door, j jeered in. Two fiery eyes confronted him, and aiming- by these, he threw the stick.- With an angry snarl the lynx jumped straight toward him, and he tumbled backward over the. wood-pile. :fhen. the lynx showed himself for a moment at the doorway, grinning diabolically as if to show his long teeth, and withdrew to the darkness within. Trundy picked himself up and retired from near the doorway. The two hunters looked .at each other, trembling with the cold. Their guns, knives and the axe were in the camp with | the lynx. Somehow their midnight I chase did not seem so funny as it. ! had seemed in the beginning-. I ""What are we going- to do ?" asked Bendix, his teeth chattering. "We've got to find some way to get that consarned critter out of the camp. We'll freexe in a little while out here." "One of us might, take a pole and go in and poke him out." ] " S'pose you try it ?" "Oh, oao. 1 don't, cai-e so much about getting inside as all that.' Where is Spot. ? He'll tackle anything." " Spot! He's chasmg1 that lucivee, and he'll never leave off chasing him till he kills him. Let's go look." The hunters walked down to the shore. Far down the lake the staghound was following the lynx. He was close upon him, still keeping him from the shore, and trying to seize him every time he came near ; but at every attempt the lynx dodged him. The two passed round a point out of sight. A quarter oil a mile from the -shore Tige was running to and fro on the ice in an undecided way. ' The hunters double-shuffled with their feet and thrashed their sides with their arms in the effort to keep warm. They approached the camp again. '"It seems all quiet inside," said Bendix. " Perhaps the critter's gone away." ' Me approached the door and listeni eel.' AJI was still -within. He shouted, " Shod there ! Git out of this !" but no sound came from within. He peered into the camp. Two eyes of fire stared into his ; there was a quick rustle, a warning growl rising to a snarl, and Eendix retired from the doorway. The hunters went round to the back of the camp, thumped the sides and roof and shouted, in hopes that the creature would go out of the door; but he refused to take the hint. They went back to' the shore. Shiveringiy they gazed down the lake at the point of . land round which the hound had followed the lynx, but no sign of Spot was to be seen. " Likely's not he's got the crittertreed. If he has, he'll stay by him all night and to-morrow," said Trundy, gloomily. " Ah-h-h, thank goodness, here he comes !" ( With his black shadow plainly to be seen on the snow-covered ice long before his white form came into view, the hound trotted round the point. It seemed a long time to the hunters before- he arrived. When he did, his reddened jaws and his silky skin torn in more than one place showed that he had overtaken the lynx and fought him. .. ...

the hound following, the two men walked back to the camp. Tige, gaining- courage in the presence of his hunting"companion, followed, cringing and keeping well to the,rear. Near the camp door the hunters paused. Cold as he was, Trundy had not the heart to send the hound into another hard' fight, so close on the heels of one just ended. " Dang it, I'll go in myself and rout the critter out!'" he said resolutely, and with his pocket-knife began to shape a maple sapling into a club. But Spot settled the question for himself. Snuffing inquisitively, he advanced to the door ; then, instantly, with a deep growl he dashed into the camp. There was a noise of a sharp fight within, a great snarling, spitting, screaming, a tearing about and upsetting of. camp furniture. Then out of the camp, with the hound close behind him; shot, the lynx.

As chance would have it, tlhe lynx, thinking only" of getting -away, was headed) straight, for Tige. ■ With a whine of fear, the dag turned /tail to run, but he was not quick enough. The lynx, finding the yellow dog. in his way, landed, teeth and claws foremost, on his back, knocked him over, and then-continued his flight.

But Tige?s cowardly carcass had served to stop the brute's headway long enough to enable Spot to come up. There was a short tussle, and then the good dog had the lynx by the back of the neck, with a grip it could not break. Trundy settled the fight by a blow with a club. Taking no thought of Tige, who lay on the ground, his four feet in the air as if he had given up all hopes of life, the 'hunters went into the camp, found a match, and starting a blaze with birch bark in the fireplace, took account of damages. About everything that was movable had been upset, and their couch of hemlock boughs looked less like a bed than a brushheap. Spot had plenty of bites and ,ciawmarks about the head and shoulders as tokens of his two combats, but none of his hurts were serious. As for Tige, when at last Bendix went to to the door to look for him, he was nowehere to be' seen, and calls and whistles failed to bring him. Bendix went down on the shore, and from there saw, far out on the lake, a dark, bounding figure disappearing in the distance; • Tige had revived only to desert the camp. Warmed by a blazing fire and hot tea, the hunters came to no harm from their exposure: As a crumb of comfort for what they had undergone, they had two lynx skins, for the next morning they .found the lynx Spot had first attacked, and which he had killed before it could reach the shore. They remained at tihe camp hunting a fortnight longer, with no further misadventures.

It was on their way home about tlhe middle of March that the hunters got their first news of Tige. The morning after the fight with the lynxes he had visited a lumber camp forty miles to'the southward, where the cook had fed him. In the afternoon She had disappeared. .

Bendix found Mm at-home, where he had arrived two days after, he !had left the hunting camp, having- travelled over a hundred miles in that time. He could never be induced to accompany ihis master again up to the great woods.

" If I ever as much as said ' lucivee' in that dog's hearing after that time," Bendix used to say in telling: his adventure with the lynxes, "he'd whine and go. hide. himself, and you'd. see nothing more of 'him that day." CLABENCE PULLEN.