Kitty 



Jones backed down a little till she crossed to another 

 branch, then he resumed his former position. 



&quot; Watch below,&quot; called he. 



Hardly any doubt was there as to how we watched. 

 Frank and I were all eyes, except very high and 

 throbbing hearts. When Jones thrashed the lasso 

 at Kitty we both yelled. She ran out on the branch 

 and jumped. This time she fell short of her point, 

 clutched a dead snag, which broke, letting her 

 through a bushy branch from where she hung head 

 downward. For a second she swung free, then 

 reaching toward the tree caught it with front paws, 

 ran down like a squirrel, and leaped off when thirty 

 feet from the ground. The action was as rapid as 

 it was astonishing. 



Like a yellow rubber ball she bounded up, and 

 fled with the yelping hounds at her heels. The chase 

 was short. At the end of a hundred yards Moze 

 caught up with her and nipped her. She whirled 

 with savage suddenness, and lunged at Moze, but he 

 cunningly eluded the vicious paws. Then she sought 

 safety in another pine. 



Frank, who was as quick as the hounds, almost 

 rode them down in his eagerness. While Jones 

 descended from his perch, I led the two horses down 

 the forest. 



This time the cougar was well out on a low spread- 



295 



