The Last of the Plainsmen 



had been down under the rim wall. Jones doubted 

 not in the least that they had chased a lion. 



Upon examination, this break proved to be one 

 of the two which Clarke used for trails to his wild 

 horse corral in the canon. According to him, the 

 distance separating them was five miles by the rim 

 wall, and less than half that in a straight line. There 

 fore, we made for the point of the forest where it 

 ended abruptly in the scrub oak. We got into camp, 

 a fatigued lot of men, horses and dogs. Jones 

 appeared particularly happy, and his first move, after 

 dismounting, was to stretch out the lion skin and 

 measure it. 



&quot;Ten feet, three inches and a half!&quot; he sang 

 out. 



&quot; Shore it do beat hell ! &quot; exclaimed Jim in tones 

 nearer to excitement than any I had ever heard him 

 use. 



&quot; Old Tom beats, by two inches, any cougar I 

 ever saw,&quot; continued Jones. &quot; He must have 

 weighed more than three hundred. We ll set about 

 curing the hide. Jim, stretch it well on a tree, and 

 we ll take a hand in peeling off the fat.&quot; 



All of the party worked on the cougar skin that 

 afternoon. The gristle at the base of the neck, where 

 it met the shoulders, was so tough and thick we could 

 not scrape it thin. Jones said this particular spot 



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