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Show a I JUST IN TIME. I I BY C. N.'BARHAM. I 5. 35 AS SliliN from the sen, the town of "New Haven, Mass., appears e:u-,, e:u-,, bosomed between two hills. These hills are not more than fbe hundred . feet in height; but what they lack in altitude they make up for in pictur-I pictur-I csqucness. They present u bold front of trap rock, which, combined with the ; " harbor in the foreground, aid a long line of low hills stretching away toward to-ward the Siky line, constitute a scene of loveliness which is not easily forgotten. it The whole neighborhood is of his- Tf toriqal interest. It was in one of these fc two hills that which Is called the West j Hock that the celebrated regicides, i Goffe and Whallley, once found refuge. v A cleft in its rugged sides is known, far I and wide, by the name of the "Judges' j Ctrte." ..v . ... This cave is a mere den, lying between be-tween two immense boulders of about twenty feet perpendicular. One of ' these is romewhat conical in shape, J while the other is almost n perfect par allelogram. Uetween these, at some remote period, another large stone would seem to have fallen, and become tightly wedged. This is nil that justl- I lies the name of a cave. Tho place must have been a fitter dwelling for the hears unci cougars which at that period infested the eastern states, than for x two famous Englishmen. On one of the stones, which is covered t with inscriptions, some visitor has taken pains to renew the inscription i " which, tradition says, the occupants ) placed over their retreat. His enthu siasm mast have been brighter than his orthography, for he has only succeeded tin informing posterity that "oposition I to tyrants is obedience to God." . Hither one hundred and twenty years ago came llcginnld. Flanders, nn Kng-lish Kng-lish soldier- who had served in the French and Indian war. It was a solitary soli-tary situation for such a man to have chosen us a settlement; but he knew no fear, and craved for no companionship. He, cultivated a patch of the wilderness "which stretched far away inland, and, as the Indians were quiet, the wild hill side seemed to him, his wife and J5ns.il, his eight-year-old son, an earthly paradise. par-adise. It was a September morning. The lenves, beginning to change, shoi'O like gold in tlie sun. Itcginald Flanders liad thrown a sack of corn across the back of his plow-horse and was talcing n farewell of his wife and child, preparatory pre-paratory to starting for New Haven, where he proposed to exchange his ' ' - " marketable commodity for household tA ' necessaries, Throwing his gun over -gf3-jry j,ls shoulder for no prudent man would then uo on a iourney without his j, ' tried weapon of defense he strode Snway, and was almost immediately lost to view. Shortly after tho dispatch of a frugal I ' breakfast, Uasil left the log house and j wandered towards 'the verge of the , woods. A small stream came trickling y - . down toward; the sea, audi beside it the jj little fellow haired; A floating acorn, if - the first of the seuson, caught liis eye, jy - and, with the -thoughtlessness of child i j hood, he drew it to tho bank. Some- 7 how, that early fruit of the wilderness appealed to his roaming instinct. He a craved for mdre, and, reasoning that h there must be plenty up rttream, per- ,j ceivlng that hs motiher's- eye was not j upon him, he started on his quest. i " The rivulet ran through a Vavine. The banlcs. composed of rocks, fretted 'j by storm and decay, rose almost per- " pendlcnlarly on either side. A few 1 scattered trees and shrubs sought nour- Ishment from the earth, which had 1 fallen from above. Beyond these, up ( ' the gorge, Hasll pushed on whither he I did not know. 5 i The mother soon missed her son, but at first, thinking lie wasi in the icinity, . checked her fears, The hours passed, , and, as he dirt not return, her anxiety . j changed to absolute terror. Forsaking 1 f all else, '.Mrs. Flanders hurried to the ',s fields, ami, with rapidi footsteps, trav- i ersed the gloomy glades. Search as she 1 would', she could'discover no trace of tho I missing one. She shouted, called his 3 nnme, but there was no response. ' At length she came- to the stream. g There, with o cry, half of gladness, half i of dismay, she hailed the child's foot prints in the soft, yielding soil. She J saw that they pointed) upwards to the gorge, into which she luirt' never before $ ventured. But a mother's love fears no (p . consequences, She entered, L For rojuc time she rushed onward, I experiencing all 'the bitterness of hope j deferred. The vr". "Tlaeil! Hasil!" 4 rang out of the stiflneds of tho woodp but no answer came. Suddenly she- stopped, and gozed into the gloom with straining1 eyes; then she pressed her hand to her heart, reeled and almost fainted. There, not 50 yards away, stood Basil! It was but for a moment that she so yielded tj her conflicting emotions. Coi'queiing her feelings, she nu-hed ' forward ur;d clasped the child to her i breast. As tl e now overjoyed mother i did so, to her horror, looking up into the tangled foliage, she perceived a huge panther, stretched, crouching, upon an extended bough, apparently ready 'to spring. Frobably the britte ' had only 'then observed Basil, for now, upon his mother's approach, It hesitated hesitat-ed to attack, lashing its tawny sides with Its tall, as if to work itself into a state of greater fury. What was to be dope? A weak woman wom-an was powerless against the strongest and fiercest denizen of the New T3ng-land T3ng-land woods. Scarcely knowing what she did, the poor mother seized her child and turned to fly. As she did so, the panther made Its spring. ' Owing to the height and the distance, it sprang short, barely touching the rock upon which the two were standing, stand-ing, and fell backward. The respite was but brief. Hecover-Ing Hecover-Ing itself, the savage beast returned to the attack. -& Mrs. Flanders clasped-Basil closer to her side, being resolved, in her desperation, despera-tion, that the destroyer should only reach his life through herself. She could not escape by flight, and had no means of defense. She could only wait and pray. Once more the assailant made its attack, at-tack, this time with a greater measure of success. It struck the edge of the rock, and managed to cling to it. Struggling Strug-gling desperately to recover itself, it stretched forward until its jaws ecmcd but a short yard from its intended victim. vic-tim. At this moment overwrought nature gave way under the strain, and she swoohed. As for Basil, die had hidden his face in his mother's gow n. Meanwhile, Itcginald' Wanders sold his corn, and expended the proceeds in flour, sugar, a small, prized packet of tea for his wife, powder and lead, and other simple necessaries. Having transacted his business, he set out on the journey homeward. The sun rose high in the heavens, atid, anticipating an-ticipating no evil, he suffered the slow-paced slow-paced ilow-horiiC to subside into a walk. There was joy in the calm peaceful-ness peaceful-ness of tho surrounding wilderness. The birds were merry, the sea gleamed behind him like glass, the hills rcsc on either side, lie vas surrounded. b;r the pure beauties of nature, and the uvoet-! uvoet-! ness of contentment filled his scul. He seemed to dream, and left the horse to wander as it liked. How it occurred Iteginald Flanders could never tell. Tofhis surprise, arous ing himself from pleasing reterie, he found that Dobbin must 'have taken the wrong course, for they were on the nipper nip-per instead of the lower side of the "West Itock." This mattered little, excepting that it made the journey somewhat longer; for which he was-sorry, ns he knew hi3 wife would be looking out for his coining; coin-ing; only now he. must cross the stream high up in Uhe woods. So, pressing the faithful old horse into an apology for u trot, he pursued his way. At length he came to the jirecipitous .bank of the brook, down which with some difficulty he guided his horse. Pursuing a downward course in the direction di-rection of 'his home, he was suddenly startled by a shrill, weird cry. lb sounded as if it were the voice of his wife, and yet it was strangely unlike. un-like. What was it? What could.i't portend? por-tend? There it rang again. Some one must be in dire peril. There was no time for delay. The mystery must be solved at once. Forward For-ward ! The old horse lumbered heavily on, over rocks and projecting tiec-stumps, but its best efforts, failed to keep pace with its master's ever-increasing anxiety. anx-iety. The cries had ceased. All was once more as silent as nature, on an early autumnal day, can be. With the recurring re-curring silence tho man'sfenrs became intensified. As he came within siglit of the rock, lie was surprised to perceive an enormous enor-mous panther, making strenuous endeavors- to climb its slippery fides. With the instinct of the hunter and the coulne&s of the -practiced soldier, Itcginald Flanders grasped his rifle, shook tho priming in his hand, placed n fresh flint in the lock, and fok a long and deliberate aim. Had he known the real state of affairs, it mgiht have unnerved un-nerved 'his arm, but the knowledge was happily spared-him. And now the savage animal made its foothold good. With a snarling cry it crouched, leaped and -rolled bock, lifeless, life-less, int? the stream, with the settler's bullet through itsbrnin! Ctirions tofind out tvhat httd been the prtnther's object, yet not tor single moment guessing- the truth, tlie mnrhs-mnn mnrhs-mnn set himself to climb the rock. Who shall describe the mingled, horror hor-ror nnd' thnnhfulness -with which he perceived the. unconscious forms of his loved ones, and realized that he had been providentinlly enabled to save tliem from an awful fate? With difficulty the loving liusband won lii wife ami boy back to life, and bore Hi em. pale and wealc, but safe, to hit cabin. That rvet'irg the sun went down into the west w'th Mr Int red' rays re5ing upon a raxnllv giving (hanks for an almost al-most miraculous escape from a dreadful denth. Golde.11 Days. |