50 AN AMERICAN HUNTER 



tered pinyons. Here the dogs were at fault for over an 

 hour. It had evidently been a favorite haunt of the cou- 

 gars; they had moved to and fro across it, and had lain 

 sunning themselves in the dust under the ledges. Owing 

 to the character of the ground we could give the hounds 

 no assistance, but they finally puzzled out the trail for 

 themselves. We were now given a good illustration of 

 the impossibility of jumping a cougar without dogs, even 

 when in a general way its haunt is known. We rode 

 along the hillside, and quartered it to and fro, on the 

 last occasion coming down a spur where we passed within 

 two or three rods of the brush in which the cougar was 

 actually lying; but she never moved and it was impos- 

 sible to see her. When we finally reached the bottom, 

 the dogs had disentangled the trail; and they passed be- 

 hind us at a good rate, going up almost where we had 

 come down. Even as we looked we saw the cougar rise 

 from her lair, only fifty yards or so ahead of them, her 

 red hide showing bright in the sun. It was a very pretty 

 run to watch while it lasted. She left them behind at 

 first, but after a quarter of a mile they put her up a pin- 

 yon. Approaching cautiously for the climbing was 

 hard work and I did not wish to frighten her out of the 

 tree if it could be avoided, lest she might make such a 

 run as that of the preceding evening I was able to shoot 

 her through the heart. She died in the branches, and 

 I climbed the tree to throw her down. The only skill 

 needed in such shooting is in killing the cougar outright 

 so as to save the dogs. Six times on the hunt I shot the 

 cougar through the heart Twice the animal died in 



