stranger came to the house and asked: 'Is
Mr. McNeil at home?'

"'No,' says Christie; 'the gude man is away.'

"'That's a pity; for I hear that McNeil is a very strong man, and a
great wrestler; and I've come a very long distance to throw him.'

"'Troth, man,' says she, 'Johnny is gone. But I'm not the woman to see
ye disappointed, and I think if ye'll try me, I'll thraw ye myself.'

"The man didn't like to be stumped by a woman and accepted the
challenge. Christie threw him, and he cleared out without leaving his
name."

"That's a braw couple," says Hector. "I hope there were no quarrels in
that household."

"No, indeed; as nice, peaceable, and respectable a couple as you could
find in the whole Province. It's a fine sight to see the old man and his
wife seated in front of the fire, smoking their pipes, and their big
sons around them."

"I'd like to see them. But what I do want to see is a panther or
catamount. There's very little game left in Lexington. Now and then a
bear, but the catamounts went long before my day. I suppose you have
killed them."

[Sidenote: A HAZARDOUS ADVENTURE]

"Yes, I've killed some; but Martin's brothers did about the best thing
in that way that I know of. Tell them about it, Martin."

"All right. We lived on the Merrimac, at a ferry that they called after
us, Martin's Ferry. Father died when we were little chaps. Mother was
strong, and we got along farming, hunting, and running the ferry. One
day in winter, when I was about thirteen years old, my brothers, Nat and
Ebenezer, went up to Nott's Brook, to see if they could find some deer
yarded in the swamp. They came on a big track, followed it, and saw a
catamount eating a deer it had killed. Nat had an axe, and Eben a club.
Nat said, 'Let's kill him, Eben.'

"'All right. It's a pretty slim show, but I'm in for it. How'll we do
it?'

"'You go up in front of him and shake your club to take his attention,
and I'll creep up behind and hit him with the axe.'

"'I don't think there's much fun shaking a club in a panther's face; but
if you're sure you'll kill him, I'll try it.'

"Eben walked up in front with his club, and Nat crept up behind. When
the cat saw Eben, it growled and switched its tail round, and raised up
the snow in little clouds. It lay there with its paws on the deer and
its head raised, growling at Eben, who felt pretty shaky. Nat crept up
behind the cat and gave it a blow with his axe that cut its backbone in
tw