A BOOK-LOVER'S HOLIDAYS 

 IN THE OPEN 



CHAPTER I 



A COUGAR HUNT ON THE RIM OF THE 

 GRAND CANYON 



ON July 14, 1913, our party gathered at 

 the comfortable El Tovar Hotel, on the 

 edge of the Grand Canyon of the Colo- 

 rado, and therefore overlooking the most won- 

 derful scenery in the world. The moon was 

 full. Dim, vast, mysterious, the canyon lay 

 in the shimmering radiance. To all else that 

 is strange and beautiful in nature the Canyon 

 stands as Karnak and Baalbec, seen by moon- 

 light, stand to all other ruined temples and 

 palaces of the bygone ages. 



With me were my two younger sons, Archie 

 and Quentin, aged nineteen and fifteen respec- 

 tively, and a cousin of theirs, Nicholas, aged 

 twenty. The cousin had driven our horses, and 

 what outfit we did not ourselves carry, from 



southern Arizona to the north side of the can- 



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