THE COUGAR. 417 



I could see the Cougar trotting swiftly after me. I ran 

 until I could run no longer, and then wheeled and faced the 

 Cougar again, which again stopped and crouched in the road. 



"I began to take courage, seeing that the animal did not 

 attempt to do me injury so long as I was looking at it, and 

 so I continued to walk backward. I had come more than a 

 mile since the Cougar first made his appearance, and I hoped 

 when I got out of the woods into the prairie, which now 

 was not more than a mile distant, that the Cougar would 

 leave me; so I kept on my retrograde way. When I got 

 about a hundred yards away from the Cougar, it rose from 

 its recumbent position and came trotting on toward me, 

 and when it came within a few feet, crouched again. At 

 that time my heart gave a great leap for joy, for on the peb- 

 bled road came the sound of the flying footsteps of a horse. 

 Looking over my shoulder, I saw it was my pony, ridden 

 by a half-breed boy who lived at the farm. But my joy 

 was of short duration, for when he saw the Cougar he 

 wheeled the pony, and the sound of his footsteps soon 

 became faint in the distance. 



"Walking slowly backward, but with fainting heart, I 

 reached the edge of the prairie. As soon as the Cougar saw 

 the open expanse before it, a change came over it. It grew 

 excited. It came rushing toward me, and instead of crouch- 

 ing as before, ran past me, and stood in the road before me, 

 evidently intending to bar the way and drive me back into 

 the woods. I tried to walk around it, but it would keep 

 directly in front of me, and seemed determined that I should 

 not proceed any farther. It grew bolder every minute, and 

 at last came boldly up and seized my dress. I screamed, and 

 tore myself away from it, leaving most of my dress-skirt in 

 its paws. 



" Then came a sight that I hope no other girl may ever 

 be compelled to witness, as an experience of her own. The 

 brute became maddened, and began jumping quickly around 

 me, keeping its eyes intently fixed on mine. At times it 

 would stop, lie down, and roll over, playfully clutching at 

 the scanty remnants of my dress that it had not already torn 



27 



