THE COWARDLY COUGAR 



a room. They would smell every leaf, every 

 pine cone, every twig; they would rear up and 

 smell both sides of overhanging branches for 

 the full length; they would lip the ground 

 until their tongues were black. Occasionally 

 they would break away and make wide circles, 

 only to return and take up the scent where 

 they had lost it, working out the trail with the 

 care of scientists. 



After a couple of hours, the younger ones 

 gave up and lay down, baffled, exhausted ; but 

 Pot-hound persevered in his investigations, for 

 all the world like some patient old professor in 

 a laboratory. By this time he could detect 

 the scent only in shady places, and there but 

 faintly. He would give tongue at the base of 

 a tree, then trot across one open space after 

 another until he caught it again. He pos- 

 sesses the hunting instinct raised to the nth 

 degree of refinement, and I seriously doubt if 

 any other animal on this continent could have 

 duplicated his performance. 



We had skirted a deep canon which ran 

 back into the mesa, when Ambrose said: 



" There's a spring down yonder. Let's take 

 the dogs under and give them a drink. May- 

 be they'll strike the trail down there." 



201 



