| Show tracking an indian devil tactics of big game hunters superstition among the eastern indians in regard to fierce animals of america there is a strange superstition amone the penobscot indians which causes them to shun the mountainous region in northern maine which extends from gebec sebec lake to mount although it is within their natural bunting domain and abounds in antlered game it la rarely that an indian of this tribe can be persuaded to set foot upon this territory their reluctance arises from their belief that this region is the abode of the indian davilas de vilas the panther is commonly called in maine they be ji eve that this beast has an especial toward indians and that for one of their rare to set foot within his solitudes would be to incur almost the certainty of being killed and devoured it has been many years since an in dian devil lias been killed in maine and but seldom in the forty years have signs of his presence been recorded his tracks have sometimes bome times been been imprinted upon the trail of a hunter or explorer whom ho has followed and watched without venturing to attack it is noteworthy that most of such in are reported from this mountainous region which indian tradition lias ascribed as the special lurking place ot this animal it was in the great unbroken forest stretching southward aiom the basest mount Kat abdin that about fafty years ago two hunters stephen bolridge Bon ridge and boim blake wounded a fine buck one december afternoon there was about a foot of enow on the ground and al they at once lost eight of the animal which made off at great speed they could trace his course b y his footprints and the drops of blood upon the snow As they threaded the mazes of the forest with their eyes bent on the trail bolridge Bon ridge who was in advance suddenly stopped short well this beats me he exclaimed what made those tracks what have you found called john blako from behind did not answer at once lie was stopping to examine in the enow a line of tracks which came in upon the trail of the deer and turned to follow the path of the wounded animal these footprints in shape resembled those of a cat but bad been made by a foot far larger than the foot of any feline creature that the hunters had ever seen They were familiar with the tracks of the or bobcat and the length of the imprint of these tracks showed that they had been made by an animal much larger and heavier than he they look like a luci bracke lie said to his companion as he came up but if that wag the critter that made em he must be the father of all luci john blake who was the older woodsman of the two looked at the tracks he was a silent man who seldom epoco without due reflection ill tell you what it is he said at last its an indian devil and hes a big one he said no more but with his ramrod bounded alie barrel of his rifle to make sure the bullet was in place then lifted the hammer and saw that the nipple was properly primed and that percussion cap upon it was a good one the younger hunter impressed by his companions pan ions examined hie own piece ith equal care then without a word the two continued their pursuit of the deer As they followed the trail onward their eyes searched not only the ground far and near but the lower branches of the great trees beneath which they pissed as well thereafter all the way there were two tracks together those of the deer deep and narrow and right upon them sometimes covering and never leaving them alie broad round imprints of the great cats feet ko longer ivere any diopa of blood to be seen along the trail everywhere eliat one had fallen it biad been lapped clean rom the enow at last the tracks leaving the horseback nace along it had led for miles entered one of those low tracts covered with a towering black growth which the maine lumbermen ki ew as timber swamps at its edge alie hunters paused night was falling and already within the gloomy of alie pines and hemlocks it was too dark for them to hope to follow the white imprints in the white fonow they were a long way from their camp aha have you got along with you to eat stove asked blake bowridge Bo oridge felt in the dockets of his coat A quarter of a loaf ol 01 bread and a little aalt he answered ive bot a slice of pork eaid blake now its no use wasting half alie and next morning in trying to get to the camp and back suppose we camp right down here where we can take up the trail with the first daylight bolridge Bon ridge fell in with his companions fu at once with scanty food and no blankets the two hardy hunters prepared to pass the night in alie open air scarcely had they begun tho preparations for their bivouac when far away from alie dark recesses ot the swamp there came a scream so loud and fierce and peir cing that the two men short in their tracks turned their faces toward the sound and stood as if petrified taft scream was not repeated eo after listening a few moments they went on to make before a blaz ng fire which they rose by turns to replenish the two hunters passed a fairly comfortable night half in the ercal heap of soft fragrant hemlock boughs which they had cut for their bed the provisions they had brought in their pockets served to stay their stomachs and they arose at day to start on the trail of alie deer and indian devil we ahall find the deer or left of lii at the place that fellow yelled last night remarked blake as they followed the tracks in alie snow if hes got our venison well make a mighty good try to equale matters by getting him said e 11 do our best but remember that the indian devil is a hard customer to overhaul and if we come up with him and only wound him or corner him we ve got our work cut out for us if I 1 can draw a bead on him ill take the risks laughed bolridge Bon ridge and with no more words the hunters went on together for a halt mile they followed tracks through the black growth by the dim light of a cloudy morning filtering down through the thick tops of the great pines and hemlocks then they came to where the buck lay dead it s throat torn open and every drop of blood sucked from its body one of its haunches was partly eaten ane trampled snow and broken down bushes about the place gave token of a fierce struggle and the great cat tracks around the body showed what had done the work for the buck ane tracks leading from the spot indicated the direction the indian evil had taken after satisfying his appetite stopping by the deer only long enough to drees its carcass and hang it up to a limb of a tree the hunters set out upon the track of the indian devil in the gloomy shadow they followed it mile after mile until at last bolridge Bon ridge looking up to trace their course by the clouded flun dimly discernible through the treetop eaid it seems to me we are bearing back the way we came but there were tha panthers tracks before them and they continued to fol lova whither they led for a mile further then bolridge Bon ridge called out again hullo been here before us here are two mens tracks ahead of us and the indian devil has taken after them he looked at them closely hanged if they aint our own blessed tracks 1 he exclaimed the beast is following us surely enough the indian devil had led them back to their own trail and had continued on following the tracks they had made earlier in the day there they had trod was its round footprint here and there the tracks showed that the creature had left the trail leaping to one side to creep along a fallen tree trunk or to run up a low broad bram inn g tree aa if for the purpose of reconnoitering reconnoiter ing the around ahead then he had taken to the trail again to follow directly upon the hunt ei steps the two men went onward upon their own and the indian devils trail for a time until they had satisfied sati fied that the beast meant to follow them persistently they knew that he could them easily and that their chances in overhauling him in following him about in a circle were remote indeed besides this the clouds were spitting snow every prospect eliat a lull blown anon storm would set in before nightfall that would hide every vestice of their and the indian devils tracks their only hope to come upon the beast seemed to lie in trying new tactics lets take the back track and eo go round the way 0 o came said blake wn may meet the critter that way we can never catch up with him it was now 2 in the af terion the tie hunters could count on scarcely more than two hours of daylight even if snowfall should not hasten the coming of darkness back they started to trace in i the opposite direction from their long route of the mornine after an hours walking blake who as leading gave a warning hist and id held up his hand to his companion as 3 a signal to come on cautiously there upon the trail were the fresh footprints of the indian devil which following round its own and the hunters tracks ended and the hunters could aeo no signs to indicate what had become of the beast which made them they were standing by the side of a small eminence such as is often found i in tha great lumber camps of maine great boulders were strewn over its sur face which clumps of underbrush and the thes shades of great pines and hemlocks partly ively concealed j the indian devil had not turned back upon ion his own tracks and a short in action of the level ground on the right of the trail showed had not made off nn in that direction kb tracks could j seen upon the eminence but looking carefully blake noticed that from a clump of evergreen bushes upon the acclivity some snow bad recently been shaken cautiously exploring beyond this undergrowth the hunters found the tracks trad made by the four feet of the panther which had leaped sidewise and ugwa boward fully ten feet from the path to ane other side of tho bushes As lie leaped ed lie biad partly turned round eo that he li had struck the ground facing away j from the trail from fro where he lad struck behind the bush ish tho indian devil had leaned again this ais time straight ahead a distance of ailtee feet to the top of a rock from here he had made another leap equally long and at the spot where he hail landed this lime all signs of his going ended if the cunning creatures pur poo was to throw the li off his trail lid apparently had succeeded search aa they about the place they could find no more tracks and the great tree boughs overhead revealed as atle to their gaze the afternoon afern oon was drawing to a aready it was too dark on the ground detect a track at a little distance vay to ald a ld to the difficulties of the tuition tua tion a fine rain had begun ta fall which deemed likely soon to obscure all tracks thus ending their hunt for the idian devil and making it a haid latter to find their way back to camp against the side of the knoll near the summit was an enormous boulder rose at a elope on the upper side the rounded lop and on the lower 1 vertically twenty feet to the face of B knoll they already had passed round this rock looking for gracea cea of the indian devil ill climb to the top of that big rock I 1 take one more look around before give it up said bolridge Bon ridge and 9 in hand he worked bia way up the ping face he looked down upon the knowl where the only animate creat lie could acu ecu were his com in the gloom that darkened the and underbrush at the foot of the 0 boulder he peered into the treo tops lower limbs of those that grew at lower rock were on a level with its top and the nearer bran of one great low headed pine ested i upon alie boulder if s no use looking any longer called down to his comrade well to give the tiling up im afraid flow were going to get back to camp to light he did not finish the sentence he become suddenly aware of two balls of phosphorescent flame blazing upon him from the fork of one of the great branches of the giant pine which rested upon the rock witti those to guide his vision he could trace the outline of a dusky shapeless mafs s lyial gs along side of the aind it needed no more than this to tell libin what he had come upon so startling near and that the two balla of flame mere the blazing eye of a wild beast facing him on a level with his own john blake looking up from below baw him raise his ride to his shoulder aim straight into the pine tree and lire the cracking report crashing out through the woodland was follow ej by a rightful scream like the scream he had heard the night before and with the sound a long dun tinted object launched itself from the pine tree straight as an arrow toward bis co mraie upon the rock Bon ridges rifle went spinning into the air as its owner disappeared from view s if the rock had swallowed him up the critter going irh the air toward steve looked to me to be feet long said blake in telling of the adventure afterward 1 I was taken so by surprise that it upset me completely with my gun in my hands I 1 think of anything to do but yell and the way I 1 aung out must have maue the critter think that one of its own kind was right there with it at any rate it turned toward me and fl attene 1 itself out on the eloping rock like a cat with its long tail swinging when it came to my mind what it was I 1 got my wits together my rifle came up to my shoulder and I 1 fired without aiming just as he jumped for me As my piece went off my foot slipped and I 1 went down on my back mighty sudden lucky it was for me I 1 did for the indian devil jumped from the high rock went over my face and landed three feet beyond me where he rolled and tore and bit among the rocks and underbrush 1 I got to my feet and got hold of my rifle meaning to use it for a club for I 1 expected the critter would turn and grab for me before I 1 could wink twice but he was past mischief his blood was reddening red denine the banow and after a few more struggles he hy quiet with one bullet through hia head and another in his breast which was Bon ridges and which was mine we never settled by this time out from behind the rock a good deal shaken up by his tumble but ready to lend a hand it needed the indian devil in leaping from the tree had struck the muzzle of his rifle as its butt rested against his fc houlder and the sent him a rolling clean down the face of the rock but the fall had saved chiai from the critters claws and though he had some hard thumps and bruises he was too much tickled when he found we had killed the brute to make much account of his injuries when we looked the beast over and saw his teeth and claws we besan for the first time to feel scared wo took his skin off by the light of a blazing pine knot and kept the head and feet with it to prove our story when we should get back to alie settlements when afterward we measured the skin wo found it to bo eight feet and seven inches long from tip to tip the two hunters did not get back to camp that night but largely through good luck they found their way back to the carcass of the deer here with a big fire to warm them and plenty of venison to eat aliey passed the night in tolerable comfort despite the falling snow next morning the snow had ceased and they made their way safely back to camp with their trophies |
