130 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



for a quiet and hushed chat, and kept it up until eight 

 o'clock, when we separated, my companion going toward 

 the summit of the chasm, while I kept at the base and to 

 the leeward of the usual leaping-place. 



We waited there patiently until after ten o'clock, but 

 no cougar appeared, and the only noises that disturbed 

 the brooding stillness of the night were the occasional 

 hoot of the ghostly owl, the plaintive call of the whippoor- 

 will, the croaking of frogs, and the whirring of the tree- 

 locust. Fire -flies were very numerous, and their transi- 

 tory gleaming proved a welcome sight, as it illumined 

 somewhat the inky darkness that reigned in the chasm. 

 The lonely hours flowed on with slow paces to me, until 

 the vigil began to grow from being monotonous to being 

 exceedingly tedious. I was about despairing of meeting 

 any cougar that night, when a sharp, fierce scream rung 

 out in the precipice a short distance below me, and the 

 rocks and trees taking this up, caused it to reverberate 

 in stentorian tones for several seconds. It was so sudden 

 and unexpected that it startled me violently; but when 

 my first surprise was over I prepared for emergencies by 

 noiselessly cocking my repeating rifle, and placing my 

 knife more in front, so as to have it ready should it be 

 necessary to use it. I then peered intently into the Cim- 

 merian darkness in quest of the animal, but I could see 

 nothing. I next extended myself flat on the ground and 

 looked skyward at an oblique angle; but nothing met 

 the vision except precipitous walls and masses of black 

 clouds that were scurrying to the leeward before a stiff 

 breeze, though in my cavernous retreat I could not feel a 

 breath of it. After gazing for a few moments with such 

 intensity as to strain my eyes and to make the eyelids 

 somewhat sore, I noticed an animal emerge suddenly from 

 some low shrubbery and come toward me with long, noise- 

 less bounds. Thinking I was the object of an assault, I 

 jumped to my feet promptly; and when the cougar, for 

 such it was, passed by me within a distance of three or 

 four yards, I fired at it almost without taking aim, and 



