The Last of the Plainsmen 



to the bottom of the slope before I reached it. In 

 my haste, I ran upon the verge of a precipice twice 

 as deep as the first rim wall, but one glance down 

 sent me shudderingly backward. 



With all the breath I had left I yelled: &quot; Waa- 

 hoo ! Waa-hoo ! &quot; From the echoes flung at me, 

 I imagined at first that my friends were right on my 

 ears. But no real answer came. The cougar had 

 probably passed along this second rim wall to a 

 break, and had gone down. His trail could easily 

 be taken by any of the hounds. Vexed and anxious, 

 I signaled again and again. Once, long after the 

 echo had gone to sleep in some hollow canon, I 

 caught a faint &quot; Wa-a-ho-o-o ! &quot; But it might have 

 come from the clouds. I did not hear a hound bark 

 ing above me on the slope; but suddenly, to my 

 amazement, Sounder s deep bay rose from the abyss 

 below. I ran along the rim, called till I was hoarse, 

 leaned over so far that the blood rushed to my head, 

 and then sat down. I concluded this canon hunting 

 could bear some sustained attention and thought, as 

 well as frenzied action. 



Examination of my position showed how impossi 

 ble it was to arrive at any clear idea of the depth or 

 size, or condition of the canon slopes from the main 

 rim wall above. The second wall a stupendous, 

 yellow-faced cliff two thousand feet high curved to 



