THE COUG AM AND LYNXES. 113 



to break away. Having secured them, he was preparing 

 to descend, when a new foe, in the form of their mother, 

 appeared on the scene. She had evidently deserted them 

 for a few minutes to provide them with provender, as she 

 carried a large hare in her mouth. When she heard their 

 cries, and saw them in the arms of a Philistine, she drop- 

 ped the hare and bounded on to the lower limb of the tree, 

 which must have been at least fifteen or twenty feet high. 

 The hunter having left his gun on the ground, to enable 

 him to climb with greater facility, was in a quandary, as 

 he had nothing better than a pocket-knife with which to 

 defend himself. He was a man of ready resources, how- 

 ever, and, not caring to risk his life or lose the youngsters, 

 he concluded to await the onslaught of their protectoi*. 

 "When she clambered, or rather sprung, to the next limb, 

 he was enabled to reach her with his foot by clinging 

 around the trunk of the tree, and, dropping the captives, 

 he made a tremendous downward kick at her head. She 

 raised on her hind-legs to parry the blow, so he missed 

 her; but he struck the light branch on which she was sit- 

 ting with such force that he almost severed it from the 

 trunk, and caused the outer part to point directly down- 

 ward. The result was much better than he anticipated, 

 for the cougar lost her balance, and went crashing through 

 the branches to the ground, a distance of perhaps thirty or 

 more feet, and struck it with such vehemence that she was 

 stunned. As soon as he saw her shooting downward he 

 scrambled to the broken branch, and, seizing it with both 

 hands, threw his full weight on it, and swinging himself 

 sideways, tore it from its fastenings, and was soon on the 

 grass, armed with an unwieldy but most effective battering- 

 ram. Before the cougar could get ready for another spring 

 at him — for the shock had evidently knocked much of the 

 courage out of her, if it had not seriously injured her — he 

 gave her two or three swingeing blows on the head to ex- 

 pel any remaining pluck, then ran for his shot-gun a few 

 feet away. Seizing that hurriedly, he took aim at her eyes, 

 which glowed so much with rage and hate that they were 



