126 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



his leg from hip to knee so severely with its paw that the 

 flesh seemed to have been cut with a knife. 



The man was so amazed at the suddenness of the on- 

 slaught that he did not move for a few moments ; and 

 were it not that the dogs attacked the brute boldly, and 

 thus diverted its attention, he would have received a sec- 

 ond wound, in all probability, before getting out of its 

 reach. When he did move away it was in a hurry, and, 

 seizing his rifle, he rushed in among the dogs, and placing 

 its muzzle within two feet of the cougar's head, fired, and 

 fairly blew the top of the skull off. When the animal was 

 dead he began kicking it, and, having satisfied his ven- 

 geance, he turned to his wound, and with my aid bound it 

 up. The injury, though painful, was not very serious, as 

 no vein or artery had been severed ; so he was able to walk 

 back to camp, and even to help me in carrying the trophy 

 at intervals. This accident caused a suspension of our 

 hunting operations ; and for fear it might prove to be more 

 serious than it looked, we left the valley that afternoon and 

 marched toward home. We reached a splendid camping- 

 ground early in the evening, and there pitched our tent, as 

 water and grass for our horses were to be found in abun- 

 dance. While discussing the incidents of our trip over 

 the post-prandial pipe, we asked the Indians, who were en- 

 camped close by us, why they would not remain near the 

 lake the first night ; and one of them, after much pressing, 

 said it was because the valley was haunted. When asked 

 to tell how, he said that a squaw who had been badly treat- 

 ed by her husband resolved on suicide, and one evening, 

 when her tribe reached this valley and pitched their wig- 

 wams near the lake, she suddenly rushed forth from her 

 tepee, and, plunging into the crystalline water, sunk to tho 

 bottom before any person could make an effort to save her. 

 Her spirit was supposed to haunt the vale ever since, as 

 several warriors had seen her frequently bound into the 

 lake at sunset and disappear in a pyramid of foam. She 

 had also, it is said, been heard chanting a mournful song, 

 whose theme was the cruelty of her husband and her own 



