78 AN AMERICAN HUNTER 



munk with his paw while it zigzagged about, until finally 

 he scooped it into his mouth. 



All this was in the old days when I was still-hunting, 

 with only the rifle. This Colorado trip was the first on 

 which I hunted bears with hounds. If we had run across 

 a grizzly there would doubtless have been a chance to 

 show some prowess, at least in the way of hard riding. 

 But the black and brown bears cannot, save under ex- 

 ceptional circumstances, escape from such a pack as we 

 had with us ; and the real merit of the chase was confined 

 to the hounds and to Jake and Johnny for their skill in 

 handling them. Perhaps I should add the horses, for 

 their extraordinary endurance and surefootedness. As 

 for the rest of us, we needed to do little more than to 

 sit ten or twelve hours in the saddle and occasionally lead 

 the horses up or down the most precipitous and cliff-like 

 of the mountain sides. But it was great fun, nevertheless, 

 and usually a chase lasted long enough to be interesting. 



The first day after reaching camp we rode for eleven 

 hours over a very difficult country, but without getting 

 above the snow-line. Finally the dogs got on the fresh 

 trail of a bobcat, and away they went. A bobcat will 

 often give a good run, much better, on the average, than 

 a cougar; and this one puzzled the dogs not a little at 

 first. It scrambled out of one deep valley, crossing and 

 recrossing the rock ledges where its scent was hard to 

 follow; then plunged into another valley. Meanwhile 

 we had ridden up on the high mountain spur between the 

 two valleys, and after scrambling and galloping to and 

 fro as the cry veered from point to point when the dogs 



