The Last of the Plainsmen 



ner taught obedience. But obedience was not 

 enough; the hounds must know how to follow and 

 tree a lion. With this in mind, Jones decided to 

 catch a lion alive and give his dogs practical lessons. 



A few days after reaching this decision, he dis 

 covered the tracks of two lions in the neighborhood 

 of Mt. Everett. The hounds were put on the trail 

 and followed it into an abandoned coal shaft. Jones 

 recognized this as his opportunity, and taking his 

 lasso and an extra rope, he crawled into the hole. 

 Not fifteen feet from the opening sat one of the 

 cougars, snarling and spitting. Jones promptly 

 lassoed it, passed his end of the lasso round a side 

 prop of the shaft, and out to the soldiers who had 

 followed him. Instructing them not to pull till he 

 called, he cautiously began to crawl by the cougar, 

 with the intention of getting farther back and roping 

 its hind leg, so as to prevent disaster when the 

 soldiers pulled it out. He accomplished this, not 

 without some uneasiness in regard to the second lion, 

 and giving the word to his companions, soon had his 

 captive hauled from the shaft and tied so tightly it 

 could not move. 



Jones took the cougar and his hounds to an open 

 place in the park, where there were trees, and pre 

 pared for a chase. Loosing the lion, he held his 

 hounds back a moment, then let them go. Within 



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