THE COUGAR AND LYNXES. 133 



ed it, as it leaped upon him with as much vigor as if it 

 had never been touched. He attempted to flee, but the 

 brier-bushes tripped him up, and he fell flat on his face. 

 He turned over promptly, however, and drew his knife, 

 but the cougar was then upon him, and the struggle com- 

 menced. He used his knife blindly, striking wherever he 

 could ; but his aim was uncertain, owing to the hot breath 

 of his foe, and its biting and clawing. He kept at the 

 throat whenever he could get the opportunity, and was 

 finally successful in causing the fierce brute to leave, in 

 order to get breath; but it had gone only a few paces 

 before it fell dead from loss of blood. He was so weak 

 from the contest when it was over that he did not even 

 have strength enough to crawl out of the briers, and he 

 would probably have died there had he not received as- 

 sistance. 



The strength of the animal was so great, according to 

 his assertion, that it used to turn him over on his side 

 when it seized him by the arm and attempted to drag 

 him away ; but, owing to the matted mass of briers, it 

 could not move him sideways, and it made no effort at 

 any time to lift him up bodily and bear him away as 

 cats generally do. But for the briers he thought he would 

 have been killed under any circumstances; for when the 

 animal pounced on his throat at one time, and its fierce 

 breath almost suffocated him, it was compelled to let go 

 its hold immediately, as one of the thorny stalks, which 

 extended across his face, got into its mouth and pricked 

 it so severely that it had to lift its head several times to 

 get it out; for it stretched across the lower jaws, and was 

 held there by having one of the cougar's own legs resting 

 on one of the ground-ends. "While the animal was trying 

 to relieve itself of this disagreeable bit, the hunter used 

 his knife on its throat to such good advantage that he 

 forced it to retreat a few seconds later; and it was this 

 fortunate accident that, undoubtedly, enabled him to kill 

 his assailant and save his own life. It was a narrow 

 scratch, however, which would have to yield first; and 



