TWENTY YEARS IN THE ROCKIES. 145 



When I awakened next morning I could hardly shake 

 off the feeling of loneliness which came over me. After 

 breakfast I walked over to the dividing ridge, to view the 

 country and scare up some game. I had walked about three 

 miles when suddenly I came upon a band of antelopes, lying 

 at the foot of a precipice. Not wanting any antelope meat, 

 I lay down and watched them. They were feeding slowly 

 toward me, enjoying the rank grass thoroughly. All at 

 once they scattered like a bevy of quails, and, looking up, I 

 saw a mountain lion leap off a shelf rock, far above them, 

 his long tail straight and rigid as steel, and his body ex- 

 tended to its full length. He came like a bullet from a rifle, 

 and alighted upon the back of a large antelope with such 

 force as to almost crush it into the earth. The shock killed 

 it almost instantly. The lion seized it fiercely by the throat, 

 tore the flesh from the bones for about fifteen inches down* 

 ward, and sucked its blood. Then he walked around the 

 body in a meditative manner, and began tearing the flesh 

 from over the heart. Having made a meal, which took about 

 one-third of his prize, he seized the remainder in his mouth 

 and came in my direction. 



About fifty yards away he stopped, laid down his bur- 

 den, raised his large, ugly head and looked toward me for 

 fully two minutes. Not desiring to share the sad fate of 

 the antelope, I kept perfectly still, waiting to see what the 

 lion would do next. His lordship took another look at his 

 prize, to see that all was right, looked furtively around and 

 walked off. My curiosity was satisfied, but not my sense 

 of justice. I wanted to see the savage beast laid as low as 

 his victim. I carefully raised myself to a sitting posture, 

 got my rifle ready,, and bleated like a young fawn. He 

 turned immediately, his whole attitude bespeaking suprise 

 that any animal could have escaped his careful scrutiny. 



