THE COWARDLY COUGAR 



it was about as wide as a rut or a bicycle 

 track, and it showed plainly that the copper- 

 skinned brave who laid it out wore an AA last. 

 The worst feature about the trail, however, 

 was that it had only one side, and that side 

 was forever trying to shove us off. Where 

 the other side should have been there was 

 invariably a void, some yawning cavity with a 

 lot of repulsive scenery at the bottom. I am 

 at home in oblique countries, but this was my 

 first experience in the land of the perpendicu- 

 lar, and it taught me something. 



For instance, I never knew that a horse is a 

 lopsided animal, and that it can walk with its 

 feet on a ledge while its entire body projects 

 over an adjoining gorge. Nor did I know how 

 the ancient cliff dwellers built their fires. It 

 was not by rubbing sticks together, as has been 

 claimed; it was by striking bones, one upon 

 the other. This I discovered when, out of 

 consideration for my tired mount, I got off and 

 shinned round the edge of a cliff upon what 

 seemed to be a poor imitation of a rain-gutter. 

 Pausing to admire the wondrous panorama 

 outspread below me and to change my grip 

 from a thorn bush to a cactus, I noticed, first, 

 that the outline of my legs was indistinct, like 

 n J 5S 



