wings of her cubs, retired with a
piteous howl.

Night came, and Boone began to despond. Leaving the cave was out of
question, for the brute was undoubtedly watching for him; and yet
remaining was almost as dangerous, as long watching and continual
exertion weighed down his eyelids and rendered sleep imperative. He
decided to remain where he was and after another hour of labour in
fortifying the entrance, he lay down to sleep, with the barrel of his
rifle close to him, in case of attack.

He had slept about three or four hours, when he was awakened by a noise
close to his head. The moon was shining, and shot her beams through the
crevices at the mouth of the cave. A foreboding of danger would not
allow Boone to sleep any more; he was watching with intense anxiety,
when he observed several of the smaller stones he had placed round the
piece of rock rolling towards him, and that the rays of light streaming
into the cave were occasionally darkened by some interposed body. It
was the jaguar, which had been undermining the rock: one after the
other, the stones gave way; Boone rose, grasped his heavy rifle barrel,
and determined to await the attack of the animal.

In a second or two, the heavy stone rolled a few feet into the cave; the
jaguar advanced her head then her shoulders, and at last, a noiseless
bound brought her within four feet of Boone who at that critical moment
collecting all his strength for a decisive blow, dashed her skull to
atoms. Boone, quite exhausted, drank some of her blood to allay his
thirst, pillowed his head upon her body, and fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning Boone, after having made a good meal off one of the
cubs, started to rejoin his companions, and communicated to them his
adventure and discovery. A short time afterwards, the cave was stored
with all the articles necessary to a trapper's life, and soon became the
rendezvous of all the adventurous men from the banks of the river Platte
to the shores of the Great Salt Lake.

Since Boone had settled in his present abode, he had had a hand-to-hand
fight with a black bear, in the very room where we were sitting. When
he had built his log cabin, it was with the intention of taking to
himself a wife. At that time he courted the daughter of one of the old
Arkansas settlers, and he wished to have "a place and a crop on foot"
before he married. The girl was killed by the fall of a tree, and
Boone, in his sorrow, sent away, the men