THE COWARDLY COUGAR 



cupied," we told Ambrose. "We'll bring the 

 junk." 



Ambrose acted upon this suggestion, and 

 went bounding down the hillside with a fine, 

 free, double-action movement. When we had 

 crashed our way down, then clawed our way 

 up the opposite side of the gulch, we found 

 him trying to convince the lioness that his 

 loop was perfectly painless and would not 

 harm her in the least. 



"It's no go!" he yelled, above the din of the 

 dogs. "She's et up every pole I've cut!" 



As a variation to our former practice, both 

 he and Fred went up this tree together, and 

 while Fred diverted the animal's attention by 

 sundry devices, Ambrose at last succeeded in 

 slipping a loop over the cougar's head. Oddly 

 enough, she paid no heed whatever to the rope, 

 once it was in place. Fred took the end of it 

 and cautiously drew it snug, while Ambrose 

 rigged a second snare on the end of his pole 

 and repeated his previous maneuver. We let 

 out a feeble, apprehensive cheer to celebrate 

 our daring capture. 



"Now then, let's stretch her," Ambrose 

 suggested. 



This was no difficult operation, although 

 207 



