FIRST TRIP TO MEXICO 181 



boulder, with slow, deliberate strides, walked a 

 lion, every step bringing her within easy range. 

 On she came, thirty yards, twenty-five yards, and 

 she stopped, seeming to scent the air. My eye 

 ran along the little ivory front sight and I pressed 

 the trigger. With one great bound the beast 

 cleared the earth some eight or ten feet, and rent 

 the air with a most piercing scream. As she came 

 to the ground she seemed to gather herself for 

 another spring, as I was about to fire the second 

 time; but just at that moment her feet seemed to 

 fall from under her and she toppled over on her 

 side and lay motionless, save for an occasional 

 switch of her tail. This lion proved to be a 

 female, not as large as the first lion. She meas- 

 ured a little over six feet. I had been looking 

 forward to a smoke, so filled my pipe, and had 

 not taken many puffs when I heard Hi coming 

 with the horses. 



"Who made that scream, you or the lion?" 

 he called as his figure loomed up through the 

 darkness. Hi was always there with his joke. 



After a few days more hunting we broke camp 

 and said good-bye to the Rio Bonito. Christmas 

 eve we camped on North Creek. It was a beau- 

 tiful starlit night, but the coldest we had had, ice 

 forming an inch thick. Christmas night we rode 



