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To-Day's Short Story.

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To-Day's Short Story. MR. ADAMS' ADVENTURE. It was soon after the close of the war of the revolution that William Adams moved with his wife and child from their home in Massachusetts to that part of the State of New York through which the Susqu^hannali1 runs its beautiful and tortuous course. Alter weeks of wearisome and dangerous travel through an almo"t unbroken wilder- ness they reached their protective home, a tra-cr, of land covered with timber in its j virgin state, but which then offered greater! to the agriculturist than New England. Here they cleared the land and built their rude house of the logs of the forest, and began to till the ;.oi1. I Neighbours were few in this then sparse'y settled country, and Mr. Adams and his little j family had to depend largely upon thorn- selves for social enjoyments and everything tha.t more thickly settled communities give to individual families. But little did they mind theie privations, i for they were intent upon making a home free from encumbrances, and had little time for anything but the work which .must be j done. After the house was built t!.L'fC was the land to be cleared and the timber disposed of. the planting and sowing of the crops of 1 eoro, rye, and cat*, that were to supply them with the necessities of life: so their neighbours, the nearest of whom wa nearly a mile distant, seldom saw them unless it was at the little log meetiug-housc—also used a.3 a school-house—on occasions when the pu,i,pit W3,.g occupied by a travelling Methodist preacher. But everything WCn-, wel! in the Adams houte, and the end of a lew- years fOlmd t-hcni in a happy and prosi;2rc-us condition. Wild animals were to be found in the forests, arid stories of their trcu",ine devastations among the neighbouring farm- yards were often repeated; but with the ex- ception cr loiir.ar r.n occasional pig that Jb-appened to .-trtiy into- the woods in search of nuts in tb-e fall, or now and then a fowl that fell prey to sc-ie fox night, the Idanic. family had been riattieaHy undis- turbed by ar.y of them. Often had they he?.rd the cry of a panther in the distant woods, and noted the tracks of bears and other animals, and Ilr. Adams had or¡e shot a young cub while fishirg in a small porjd a short distance from their home. They always deemed it prudent to carry firearms with ihera when verturing any dis- tance from home, nnd the good old flint Iocs ■was always a tru-ty companion while in. the fields at work, or when Mr. Adams drove the oxen to the -neighbouring village or went ro the mill with the loads of conl or rye. One fine October morning he loaded i ho cart with bags of grain, and after bidding good-bye to his wife and little Be-n, stfvrtcd go-ad-bye t?D hii w;fe on his journey to the mill, a distance of nearly seven milers over the hills and through the forests. lie found the miller and his assistant rery busy, .as the crops had been unusually abun- dant that year, and the mill was pile<i with bags and stacks of yellow grain awaiting its turn to be ground irto the meals and Hours that were to supply the neighbourhood. Mr. Adams took pleasure in vratehm-c the grain descend into the funnel-shaped hopper that fed the ponderous mill-stone which crashed the golden kernels beneath its mighty weight and returned it in the ishape of flour and msal. But as the day wore o-a and his grain wae still untouched he began to grow restless, <ui-d wandered out to the country store and bought such articles as would be needed home, amd. by way of luxuries, a new calico ure-a for Inp wife, a top for little Ben, and a paper of tobacco for himself. He knew the home folk would anxiously await his conning, and wa:th eagerly until 1w made his appearance: but it was nearly five o'clock in the afternoon before he threw the loaded bags intq.Ijis cart and began the tells journey homeward. The ox-en travelled slowly before the i-oa-vily laden cart, and it was past sunset before he reached the feet of the long hill about two miles from home. He stopped the panting oxen often rirtria-g the ascent by tho rude and unfrequented roadway which w<junfl up the hillside, and 8i! he Beared the tcp he caught an excellent ■*13W of the now mooTilig.hu-il val-lev bent-ith. ■fcTha t a panorama wae spread out before him! The forest trees w-lrt, just beginning to change colour, and all the hues of the rainbow were reflected in the mocro-li-ght from the trees covering the hillsides and valley beneath, through which the. beautiful Stisquehainnah wound its silvery course. He stopped to admire tftr, soeno, but the j thought of the waiting ones at home put an end to his reverie, and he started the ozen 011 again. It was now past ten o'clock, and an hoar's journey still lay between him and the lights of home. He had been walking up the hillside beside the cart, to easu the oxen of his weight, but now that the summit was gained he once more took his seat on the load and started the animals at a more lively pace. He had begun to desoend a little slope which preceded a level stretch through the forests beyond, when, a sound greeted his ears which because of its familiarity caused him to tremble in (-very limb. lie had heard it before on different occasions, and in his pre- sent anxious aud excitable mood it struck terror into his hea.rt. He stopped and listened, but everything va-s still except, perhaps, the cry of an owl in the distance or the chirp of a tree-toad in the bushes which bordered the road. After travelling at a somewhat faster pace for a few moments the same sound again arrested him, and seemed, to his horror, to come from a nearer source than before. He could not be mistaken. It was the cry of a panther, and the animal, in all probability. had scented tne trail of the oxen and was in rapid pursuit. He had expected to return long before dark when he left home in the morning, and con- sequentiy had not taken the rifle, his usual companion. How he longed for the trusty weapon and chided himseif for his negli- gence But there was no time to be wasted- and once more he spurred on the weary oxen. But they could not travel at a much faster gait with such a heavy load, and they had gone but a short distance before the- sound of the pursuer's howls reached his cars again. The enemy was evidently gaining ground, and that very rapittiy, and as the poor man realised his dangerous position great drope of perspiration gathered on his brow. He was -now, perhaps, a mile from home, and was nearing a spot on a clearing made by one of the neighbouring settlers, where he had noticed as he parsed in the morning on hid way to the mill a pile of logs and brushwood was burning, and the thought occurred to him that nearly all animaJe were afraid of Arc. Could he reach the clearing befoTe he was overtaken by his foe he might find refilge behind a pile of burning logs and await the coming of daylight, when in all probability he would be safe. The howls of the animal now seemed to come from near the cart, and as be sighted the burning pile he fancied they came from directly beneath. The panther would, no doubt, Attack the oxen as scon as it reached thfm. and this would give him his oppor- tunity to take refuge behind the fortress of fire. As he noared the burnin.g brushwood he shout-ed to the oxen to stop, and, leaping from the cart ran frantically toward the pile of log: which was now reduced to bright, glowing embers. To bus surprise, when he found himself safe from barm, not a, sound disturbed the deathlike silence around him but the panting of the nearly exhausted oxen in the road beyond, and nothing with the out-ward appearance of all panther was visible in the brilliant moon- ]ight. Could ho have been .asleep and dreaming as he rode al0.ug? This seemed to be the only rational explanation of the matter to the perplexed jnan, but the jaded and panting oxen did not lend their testimony to sustain that theory. However, he once more cau.tiop.fMy ventured to the road, and, walking beside the cart, 1 resumed the jonrncy. Scarcely had the oxen beaut to their task again, when almost at "his Bide, and directly under the cart, resounded

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