Hunting in Many Lands 



which, with the beast getting nearer every 

 instant, was becoming rather serious. I do 

 not know how others have felt under Hke 

 conditions ; but there is something about the 

 look of a cougar on business bent, with its 

 greenish, staring eyes, that produces a most 

 uncomfortable sensation. I have been sent 

 up a tree post-haste by a bear, and I have 

 had an old bull moose give me an unpleasant 

 quarter of an hour, but I am sure I never 

 experienced a more disagreeable sensation 

 than when I looked through my rifle sights 

 at that loping lion. He did not seem to be in 

 any feverish anxiety to reach me, but there 

 was an earnest air about his progression that 

 was ominous. 



Under any circumstances, it is not altogeth- 

 er pleasing to have a mountain lion, on his 

 busy day, making for you, and with only about 

 fifteen to twenty yards between him and his 

 quarry. I presume the delicacy of the situa- 

 tion must have impressed itself upon me ; for 

 my next shot, although I aimed for one of 

 those hideous eyes, missed far enough to clip 

 off a piece of skin from the top of his skull 

 and to whet his appetite for my gore. My 

 bullet seemed to give him an added impetus; 



244 



