“And look you!” said one man. “My Johanna has married an Indian and they have two children! I would rather she were dead!” And the settler turned and would have nothing more to do with his own flesh and blood. Tradition says of this man that in years after the Indian husband of his daughter saved him from being massacred during an uprising, and he was taken to safety by a grandson whom he had disowned.
One day after another went by, and still the expedition under Joseph Morris wended its way westward through the wilderness. So far the weather had remained fine, but at the end of a week it began to thaw and then there set in a misty rain, disagreeable in the extreme. The trail was sloppy, and if a person slipped down he was bound to get wet through and through.
“This is fine weather in which to catch cold,” grumbled Henry. The only thing he objected to when being out was rain.
During the rain and mist, which lasted for two whole days, they made but slow progress. Each night they went into camp early, and spent several hours in getting dry and making themselves half comfortable.
On the morning of the day when it cleared off, Henry and Dave were in advance, in company with Sam Barringford. They were looking for game, and hoped to stir up some rabbits, if not something larger.
“I see some partridges!” cried Henry, presently, and was about to take aim, when a sudden loud snapping and snarling broke upon the air, coming from the forest on their left.
“Wild animals!” cried Dave. “Don’t you think so, Sam?”
“I do,” was the short answer. “Come on an’ see wot they be.”
The old frontiersman led the way, and soon the party of three came upon a scene that thrilled them with interest.
In a little glade in the forest lay a dead deer, the blood still pouring from a big bite in the throat. Close at hand were a small panther and a full-grown wildcat, tightly locked together, and biting and snapping in the most vicious manner possible. At one moment the wildcat would be on top, then the panther, and then they would roll over and over, the snow and fur flying in all directions. The blood was flowing from a gash in the panther’s side and the wildcat’s left ear was slitted into shreds.