Singing Cliffs 



in death agony, split the night silence. It seemed 

 right on us. 



&quot; Cougar! Cougar! Cougar! &quot; exclaimed Jones. 



&quot;What s up?&quot; queried Frank, awakened by the 

 dogs. 



Their howling roused the rest of the party, and 

 no doubt scared the cougar, for his womanish scream 

 was not repeated. Then Jones got up and gathered 

 his blankets in a roll. 



&quot;Where you oozin for now?&quot; asked Frank, 

 sleepily. 



&quot; I think that cougar just came up over the rim on 

 a scouting hunt, and I m going to go down to the 

 head of the trail and stay there till morning. If he 

 returns that way, I ll put him up a tree.&quot; 



With this, he unchained Sounder and Don, and 

 stalked off under the trees, looking like an Indian. 

 Once the deep bay of Sounder rang out; Jones s 

 sharp command followed, and then the familiar 

 silence encompassed the forest and was broken no 

 more. 



When I awoke all was gray, except toward the 

 canon, where the little bit of sky I saw through 

 the pines glowed a delicate pink. I crawled out on 

 the instant, got into my boots and coat, and kicked 

 up the smoldering fire. Jim heard me, and said : 



&quot; Shore you re up early.&quot; 



243 



