A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. WITH WILD CATS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXIX, Issue 18, 22 January 1895, Page 4

A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE . WITH WILD CATS.

Bird 0. Wakeley, in the " Illustrated .•";■•' > American.' In the early part of September, 1887 I -was at Grand Junction, Colorado, on my first trip as travelling agent for the Omaha Stock; Yards Company. In Grand " Junction I. met' a stock man named -Wilson, whose ranch lay about 70 miles in a south-easterly direction, and together we rodo to his place. The trail led through a dreary, ragged, and mountainous country, the home of bears, mountain lion.", and wild cats, the latter almost as large and .^ferocious as tigers, and the most dangerous of the three. About half - >vay between Grand Junction and Wilson's ranch was a solitary log cabin, nsed by bis cowboys as winter headquarters, but at this time unoccupied ; close by it ' stood a rudo stable. In this cabin we spent the night. We reached his ranch next day, and after looking at his cattle aud making arrangements with him for their shipment I started back alone on the return trip. My sole protection was a Smith' aud Wesson thirty - eight calibre revolver containing but one cartiidge, the . rest of my ammunition having thoughtlessly been fired away in shooting at_ some chipmunks. I reached this half-way cabin late in the afternoon, cooked my supper, stabled my horse and prepared to spend the night. The house Vas a one-Btory affair built of logs, about fifteen by twenty feet in size, with a ridge roof, the interior beiug divided by a Lroad partition into ' two rooms — one used for cooking, the oth«r for sleeping. The window had originally consisted of two large panes of glass, each about twelve by eighteen inches in size j but. one of these panes was entirely • gone) leaving an opening. As night cime on I began to grow nervous. I was inexperienced in moiiatain life and knew not what dangers there might be about me. To these conditions were added the awful solitude of the place, the drearj and lonesome character of the country and. the distance that lay between me and any human voice. I tried to read, to write ; I found some company in the stable with my horse, but finally Bought oblivioi. from my surroundings in sleep. 1 had just.iallen into adoze.when I . was suddenly awakened by the sound of a. heavy body violently thrbwn : or, hurled against the cabin door, f waßJupon the floor in an instant, revolver in hand, expecting BOttiething further to follow, I waited and.'listaned, but all. was quiet. I again lay down upon the bed, 1 revolver in hand, containing that one precious, solitary cartridge • upqn which so much might depend. No" sooner had I done go than I was startled by a cry close by—something wild, weird, inhuman, unearthly, gradually swelling into a long, loud, continuous scream. Then ensued a series of moaning, wailing, ' Bobbing, sounds, like a child in distress,. What little reason' was left me by this time was used in trying to, determrne whether, these awful nois.es came: from human beings or (j wiid animals. I felt, rather than knew* that it must be wild cats Then -followed some of the uiost ;P,ieroing, blood -. ourdlingj .-soulshivering shrieks that ever fell upon mortal. ears. A short silence intervened, then a large, dark body suddenly appeared in the window • opening, poised itself for a moment upon ihe Bill, and dropped to the floor. A sesorid one almost immediately followed, it, as if it we're the shadow of the first. I. realised the situation in an instant. The wiid cats had found the opening in the window and were then with me in the cabin/ Alone in a cabin in the mountains at midnight, two great wild cuts almost within arms reach of me, a solitary cartridge in my revolver, ond lo aid to be looked for 1 luy was fast becoming a chaos, &y reason a wreck. My heart seem to- literally fill my throat and to almost choke me. I was incapable of motion and lay in a cold tremor. Bcar,cely daring to breathe for fear of. attracting the attention of the animals. I heard them rush to the other Bide of the partition, upon which hung a large picceof bacon. This they pulled down upon the floor and fonght over it until it was devoured. After upsetting the cup- ( board in their search for something ' further in the line of food, they sprang upon a table in the room and ■: from there to the timbers'overhead, upon which they immediately began to walk back and forth in that restlebS way, familiar to one who has 1 Been them in a cage. Their bodies, however, were invisible to me in the darkness, and I followed their movements by their blazing eye : balls, which glowed with that in- : describable fury and fierceness seen * only, in the eyes of wild beaßts. I still lay upon the bed, huddled in a corner, the blanket drawn- entirely over me, except my face and right arm and hand, in which I held the revolver. My only hope of safety seemed to be in complete and perfect silence. 1 feared to make the slightest move-! ment lest it should attract the attention of the wild cats and bring' upon me an immediate attack. Back aud forth, back and forth, they moved above me, nothing visible but those lurid balls of fire which, in tho awful darkness and silence of the night, held me in their power and fascinated me as a snake charms a bird. My eyes never left them. I had no conception of the time that passed., I was incapn, - ble of telling whether what seemed to . me a minute might not have been an hour, or what seemed an hour might not have been a minute. I lived my life over a dozen times. I was alone with death, expecting that every moment would be my last. And such a death— in that far-off spot! Then - came the thought of suicide, of emptying the contents of that revolver into my temple. Better an instantaneous pang and an end to all suffering than to* be torn to pieces by those wild beasts, to be lacerated by their cruel claws, and to feel their frightful faDgs upon my throat. I feared not death then so much, as mutilation. The thought of death alone at that time seemed 'far from fearful. Thus the night wore on ; the hours passed away ■—at least they must have done no. '1 hen came a time, however, when 1 felt more than saw that the night was ending and daylight was near at hand. As the first grim, gray streaks of dawn appeared in the east one of the animals leaped down upon the table, from there to the. window, and waß gone. The other immediately followed. . I lay quiet for a time, fearing to move lest they should return . '„ It was*, broad daylight when, weak ;jss, ..exhausted, I slowly staggered fi-om the bed and looked into a glass bung upon the cabin wall, Ihe face

that looked back on me was that of a man grown old before his , time. It was months before my nervous system was restored to its normal condition; and long afterwards I could see the fiery e.>cs of those monsters of the night as they pass before mfl in the shadowy dream of sleep.