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Show mmm ttJULvmmaammm''Bmmmmmmmmamm HALTED BY A MOUNTAIN LION. A Night Adrenture of Three Girl oa California Boad. We were driving from Oakland over the ridge that divides Alameda and Contra Costa counties, three girls bound for a country dance at Moraga valley, a little settlement on the Contra Costa side. It was late in January, and the night was pitch dark, but as the young rancher who drove knew every inch of the way we were not afraid. We had made the ascent of the mountain moun-tain and were driving down at a good pace when suddenly the horses stopped, reared and then swerved to one side, overturning the rockaway and landing us all in the mud on the side of the road. No one was hurt, and as we picked pick-ed ourselves up, wondering in a dazed way what the trouble was about, something some-thing leaped out of the bushes, over the backs of the prostrate horses and lit in the brush on the lower side of the road. There was a fearful roar, and then we saw two great, green eyes glaring out of the darkness. The driver had succeeded in pulling the frightened horses to their feet and righting the wagon. He ordered us to get into our seats, and handing the lines to the girl on the front seat he told her to hang on for dear life. "It is a lion, and he'll jump in another an-other minute, " said the man. Then, as we sat speechless from fright, the rancher drew his revolver. There was a scream unlike and more dreadful than anything I had ever heard. Then the great beast rolled a few feet in the brush and was still. After the horses were quieted and we had regained our composure sufficiently, we jumped out of the rockaway, and, with the aid of matches, examined our game. It was a splendid young California Califor-nia mountain lion, measuring about four feet in length. We three girls were all very brave when we fonnd the beast was really dead, so we helped the driver lift tho carcass into the back of the wagon and then continued our trip, creating a great sensation among the young rustics at the dance when we told of our adventure. To be sure, we gave the driver credit for the aotual killing, kill-ing, but weren't we there when it happened, hap-pened, and didn't we keep quiet, instead in-stead of screaming as lots of girls would have done? New York Sun. |