WITH THE COUGAR HOUNDS 55 



him. Soon we heard the music of the whole pack, which 

 grew fainter and fainter, and was lost entirely as they 

 disappeared around a spur, and then began to grow loud 

 again, showing that they were coming toward us. Sud- 

 denly a change in the note convinced us that they had 

 jumped the quarry. We stood motionless; nearer and 

 nearer they came; and then a sudden burst of clamor pro- 

 claimed that they were barking treed. We had to ride 

 only a couple of hundred yards; I shot the cougar from 

 across a little ravine. She was the largest female we got. 



The dogs were a source of unceasing amusement, not 

 merely while hunting, but because of their relations to 

 one another when off duty. Queen's temper was of the 

 shortest toward the rest of the pack, although, like Turk, 

 she was fond of literally crawling into my lap, when we 

 sat down to rest after the worry which closed the chase. 

 As soon as I began to eat my lunch, all the dogs clustered 

 close around and I distributed small morsels to each in 

 turn. Once Jimmie, Queen, and Boxer were sitting side 

 by side, tightly wedged together. I treated them with 

 entire impartiality; and soon Queen's feelings overcame 

 her, and she unostentatiously but firmly bit Jimmie in the 

 jaw. Jimmie howled tremendously and Boxer literally 

 turned a back somersault, evidently fearing lest his turn 

 should come next. 



On February nth we rode back to the Keystone 

 Ranch, carrying the three cougar skins behind our saddles. 

 It was again very cold, and the snow on the divides was 

 so deep that our horses wallowed through it up to their 

 saddle-girths. I supposed that my hunt was practically 



