THE COWARDLY COUGAR 



anything from a horned toad to a tornado. 

 Eut as for me, I am no loop hound I couldn't 

 rope a stack of elk horns hence the problem 

 was just how and where I fitted into the 

 expedition. 



"I'll tell you what," Ambrose finally sug- 

 gested. "Fred and I'll do the roping, and you 

 can be the gunman. Of course, a cougar is a 

 coward and a quitter, all right, but if I go up 

 a tree to tie a hemp four-in-hand under his 

 chin, I want to be able to look down into the 

 face of a friend with a thirty- thirty." 



Fred allowed that such would doubtless be 

 his own feelings under similar circumstances. 

 He declared, too, that the presence of an 

 armed escort would probably quiet the cam- 

 era man's nerves. Camera men are notorious 

 cowards, so he said. 



I was prompt in my statement that if this 

 enterprise threatened to become a competition 

 in cowardice, I was eager to enter, and so, 

 after a deal of discussion, it was arranged that 

 I should go along as a sort of protective 

 measure. Even then Ambrose was not alto- 

 gether easy in his mind, for he said: 



"I've seen fellers miss 'em cold. There 

 won't be no time to pin a target on the lion's 



us 



