THE COWARDLY COUGAR 



incidentally, he is a poet, a minstrel who sings 

 of the open road, the wind, and the sunshine. 

 Providentially, he is a liveryman, and it was 

 his burro train which carried our motion- 

 picture camera, cigars, smoking tobacco, ciga- 

 rettes, pipes, golf clubs, and various articles 

 of impedimenta. Yes, we had brought golf 

 clubs. Louis was not satisfied with his ' ' long ' ' 

 game; it was his ambition to execute a four- 

 hundred-yard drive, and he had figured that 

 by teeing up on the edge of some precipitous 

 bluff he could realize his life's dream. But, 

 alas! he was doomed to disappointment, for 

 Fate intervened in her characteristic manner. 

 On the night of our arrival, when we built 

 our signal fire to notify Uncle Jim that we 

 were ready to "go over," Louis had com- 

 plained of the altitude. He spent a bad night, 

 and in the morning he felt worse. His pulse 

 was behaving erratically and he displayed all 

 the symptoms of mountain sickness. Al- 

 though he insisted upon making the start 

 with us, we were forced to send him back 

 after an hour or more. We acted wisely, as 

 it transpired, for he was certainly in no phys- 

 ical condition to stand the hard, high climbing 

 which we later encountered. Gloom settled 



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