THE COUGAR ,1.\7; L >'.VA7-X 1 -J'.i 



were soon forcing our way through dense shrubbery or 

 scurrying over open ground. The dogs worked the trail 

 admirably, and without giving a single whimper, for a mile 

 or more, but they lost it at the base of a rocky chasm ; nor 

 could they carry it any farther, although they were harked 

 back two or three times, and several casts were made in 

 various directions. This induced me to look around me; 

 and at the first glance I noticed that a huge flat bowlder, 

 some ten or fifteen feet in height, rose abruptly upward 

 from the ground where the scent had vanished, and I de- 

 duced from this immediately that the cougar had travelled 

 as far as this, and closed its trail by bounding on the crag 

 and seeking safety in the woods above. Presuming that. 

 it would be impossible for it to leap up there with a lamb 

 in its mouth, we commenced searching around to see if we 

 could find the remains buried anywhere; but after half 

 an hour's diligent work we relinquished our effort, and de- 

 cided that it must have performed that feat, else the lamb 

 would have been carefully stowed away under leaves, 

 branches, or dirt, somewhere in the vicinity of the rock. 



We next commenced a search for footsteps among the 

 terraces forming the upper portion of the chasm, and there 

 found the slots of a cougar; but as they differed in size 

 within a short distance of each other, we concluded that 

 there were two of the same family in the neighborhood, 

 probably two males, or they would have kept together, and 

 that one of them u*ed the canyon for its favorite line of 

 retreat, while the other preferred the forest. We therefore 

 decided to lie in wait for the former near its vaulting-plan-, 

 and to attract it there by placing some fresh meat on the 

 route it usually took on its foraging expeditions. Having 

 formed our plans, we returned to the house and prepared 

 t\vo large pieces of venison for a bait, taking good care to 

 wash them thoroughly, so as to take away the smell of the 

 hands. We carried them to the tr ysting-place after sup- 

 per, by running a piece of twine through them, and placed 

 one several feet away from the top of the precipice, and 

 the other near the base of the bowlder. We then sat down 



6* 



