o which it had jumped, or fallen, from the
rocks above.

"'We hit him!' exclaimed Zeke. 'Hold up,'--and we both turned.

"For a long time the beast clung there, writhing and falling back.
Screech after screech echoed from the mountain side across the pond. We
could see blood trickling down the rock.

"The animal grew weaker, at length, and by and by fell down to another
rock, where, after fainter struggles and cries, it finally lay still. We
loaded and fired again, and the fur flew up, but there was no further
movement. Skip and Brindle were avenged, as much as they could be; but
it was a long time before the Edwards family ceased to lament their
loss.

"We went to the place twice afterwards during the winter. A mass of gray
fur was still lying on the rock, thirty or forty feet above the path.
And for years after, we could see some of the panther's bones there."

To us young folks who had so recently been camping in the "great woods"
and had passed along the foot of this very crag where the panther had
been shot, the Old Squire's story was intensely interesting. We could
vividly imagine the scene and the fears of the two pioneer boys, on that
snowy November forenoon, more than fifty years ago.

When I went up to bed that night, I found Halse soundly asleep. He did
not wake and I did not disturb him; but he was astir and dressing, when
I waked next morning, and before we went down, he began to laugh and to
ridicule us, on account of the fright we were in at the cabin when those
stones were tumbling on the roof. "And I broke up your camping trip,
anyway," he added, exultantly. "You were the scaredest lot of chickens
I ever saw! Shut yourselves up in your shanty and fastened the door with
props!"

I did not much blame him for wanting to crow a bit, after all that had
happened.

On the whole it was fortunate that we came home when we did. The storm
continued; all next day it poured and drove furiously; but apple-cutting
went on blithely indoors. What was rare for him, Addison had a bad cold
with a very sore throat; and we all retired early that night, not having
as yet caught up all arrears of broken sleep from the camping trip.

But it was not to be a night of rest; and I for one was destined to have
an exciting experience before morning. Shortly after midnight there came
an obstreperous knocking and thumping at the outer door, so loud that it
waked us in our beds up-stairs. It was repeated twice; and then I hear