424 BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA. 



and skip out. In that case the dogs might follow them out 

 of my hearing before treeing them, and there would be a 

 failure. (You must remember that is a rough, hilly coun- 

 try back of Gray's Harbor, with a great deal of under- 

 brush.) To try it with one dog, I knew would be danger- 

 ous for him, for a Cougar will sometimes turn on a single 

 dog. In that case I would very likely lose my dog. But I 

 finally decided to take the chances, and try it with one dog. 

 If I failed, and lost him, I still had the chance left of get- 

 ting the other dogs and making another run. 



"I examined what was left of the dead Elk. It had 

 been a large cow, heavy with calf. The Cougars had prob- 

 ably followed her a long time, watching for a good chance to 

 light on her. This chance came when the cow went in on 

 this narrow point of land to feed on the salmon-brush. 

 The banks of the creek are about eight feet high, and per- 

 pendicular. 



' ( In my mind, I went over again the desperate struggles 

 of this noble old cow for life, against big odds; how the 

 sneaking Cougars, with their cruel eyes gleaming, had both 

 sprung at once from a log near by. Yes, there were their 

 claw-marks, plain as day, in that log; and here the bushes 

 were trampled down, and the ground covered with blood, 

 showing plainly the death-struggles of the poor Elk. These 

 two Cougars, I learned by stepping tlie distance, had 

 cleared just twenty-six feet in that fatal leap, from the log 

 on which they rested to where the Elk stood when they 

 struck her. ' Yes, Spot, you and I will do our best to bring 

 those two blood-thirsty brutes to their death; and it will be 

 a great comfort to see them stretched out dead, after they 

 have slaughtered such a noble beast as this. And if we 

 don't take home a couple of Cougar-scalps, it will be 

 because you don't put them up a tree soon enough.' 



''The signs indicated that the Cougars were up the creek 

 from where the Elk lay, and 1 knew they could not be far 

 off; for, like an Indian, a Cougar always wants to lie down 

 and sleep when he gets his belly full. ' Now, old dog, if 

 you'll keep still till we get near them, they will tree soon; 



