He seized the body of the horse with his teeth,
and drew it about sixty paces to a river, into which he plunged with his
prey, swam across with it, and drew it into a neighboring forest.
The American panther is very fond of fish, and instances have been known
of these animals catching trout with their paws. Humboldt says that he
saw a great many turtle shells which the panthers had robbed of the
flesh. The manner in which the panther performs this operation, this
traveler informs us, is to run with all speed when he sees a number of
turtles together on land, and to turn them, or as many of them as he can
catch before they reach the water, upon their backs, so that they cannot
escape, after which he feasts at his leisure.
Two children, a girl and a boy, were playing together near a small
Indian village, in the vicinity of a thicket, when a large panther came
out of the woods and made toward them, playfully bounding along, his
head down, and his back arched after the fashion of the cat when she
chooses to put on some of her mischievous airs. He came up to the boy,
and began to play with him, as the latter at first supposed, although he
was convinced of his mistake when the panther hit him so severe a blow
on his head as to draw blood. Then the little girl, who had a small
stick in her hand, struck the panther; and matters were going on in this
way, when some Indians in the village, hearing the cries of the
children, came to their rescue.
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