Blazing the Way; Or, True Stories, Songs and Sketches of Puget SoundDenny, Emily Inez
History
Blazing the Way; Or, True Stories, Songs and Sketches of Puget Sound
Denny, Emily Inez
Indians of North America -- Northwestern States; Oregon Territory -- History; Washington (State) -- History
Our little dog, "Watch," a very intelligent animal, took the lead;
scarcely had we gained the top and essayed to break the branch of a wild
currant, gay with rose colored blossoms, when Watch showed unusual
excitement about something, a mysterious something occupying the
cavernous depths of an immense hollow log. With his bristles up, rage
and terror in every quivering muscle, he was slowly, very slowly,
backing toward us.
Although in the woods often, we had never seen him act so before. We
took the hint and to our heels, tumbled down the yielding, yellow bank
in an exceedingly hasty and unceremonious manner, gathered up our party
of thoroughly frightened youngsters and hurried along the sand homeward,
at a double quick pace.
Hardly stopping for a backward glance to see if the "something" was
coming after us, we reached home, safe but subdued.
Not many days after the young truants were invited down to an Indian
camp to see the carcass of a cougar about nine feet long. There it lay,
stretched out full length, its hard, white teeth visible beyond the
shrunken lips, its huge paws quite helpless and harmless.
It is more than probable that this was the "something" in the great
hollow log, as it was killed in the vicinity of the place where our
stampede occurred.
Evidently Watch felt his responsibility and did the best he could to
divert the enemy while we escaped.
The dense forest hid many an unseen danger in early days and it
transpired that I never saw a live cougar in the woods, but even a dead
one may produce real old fashioned fright in a spectator.
Having occasion, when attending the University, at the age of twelve, to
visit the library of that institution, a strange adventure befell me;
the selection of a book absorbed my mind very fully and I was unprepared
for a sudden change of thought. Turning from the shelves, a terrible
sight met my eyes, a ferocious wild beast, all its fangs exhibited, in
the opposite corner of the room. How did each particular hair stand
upright and perspiration ooze from every pore! A moment passed and a
complete collapse of the illusion left the victim weak and disgusted; it
was only the stuffed cougar given to the Faculty to be the nucleus of a
great collection.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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