WITH THE COUGAR HOUNDS 61 



and could not find a way up. Queen went to the left and 

 in a minute we saw her white form as she made her way 

 through the dark-colored hounds straight for the cougar. 

 "That's the end of Queen," said Goff; "he'll kill her 

 now, sure." In another moment she had made her rush 

 and the cougar, bounding forward, had seized her, and 

 as we afterward discovered had driven his great fangs 

 right through the side of her head, fortunately missing 

 the brain. In the struggle he lost his footing and rolled 

 off the ledge, and when they struck the ground below he 

 let go of the bitch. Turk, who was near where they 

 struck, was not able to spring for the hold he desired, and 

 in another moment the cougar was coming down hill like 

 a quarter horse. We stayed perfectly still, as he was 

 travelling in our direction. Queen was on her feet al- 

 most as quick as the cougar, and she and Turk tore after 

 him, the hounds following in a few seconds, being de- 

 layed in getting off the ledge. It was astonishing to see 

 the speed of the cougar. He ran considerably more than 

 a quarter of a mile down hill, and at the end of it had 

 left the dogs more than a hundred yards behind. But his 

 bolt was shot, and after going perhaps a hundred yards 

 or so up the hill on our side and below us, he climbed 

 a tree, under which the dogs began to bay frantically, 

 while we scrambled toward them. When I got down I 

 found him standing half upright on a big branch, his 

 forepaws hung over another higher branch, his sides puff- 

 ing like bellows, and evidently completely winded. In 

 scrambling up the pinyon he must have struck a patch 

 of resin, for it had torn a handful of hair off from behind 



