"Dad was the sickest man ye ever saw fer a spell. His wound healed after
a bit, under the care of an Injun doctor; but his hair, which had been
soot-black on that evenin' when he was returnin' to camp, was as white
as milk afore he got about again; an' he was notional and narvous-like
as long as he lived.

"He said the animal was like a tremenjous big cat, about four feet high
an' five or six feet in length. It was a sort o' bluish-gray color. An'
it had a very long tail curled up at the end, which it moved like a
cat's.

"Boys, that catamount is the only animal that an Indian is skeered of.
Ask a red man to hunt a moose, a bear, or a wolf, an' he's ready to
follow it through forest an' swamp till he downs it or drops. But ask
him to chase a panther, an' he'll shake his head an' say, 'He all one
big debil!' He calls the beast, in his own lingo, 'lunk soos,' which
means 'Injun devil;' an' so we woodsmen call it too."

It was at this moment that Lin put his head in at the cabin-door, and
announced that "the wagon an' hosses war a' ready."

"Wal, boys, I swan! it's many a long year since a panther was seen in
these forests, so ye needn't feel skeery about meetin' one," said the
old settler, as he stood outside his log home, and watched his guests
start. "I'll 'low ye won't find travellin' too easy 'long the ole
corduroy road. Come again!"

There was much waving of hats as the wagon, a roomy, four-wheeled
vehicle, moved off, with a creaking in its joints as if it were