WITH A MORMON GUIDE 231 



on a game trail, made one more ascent, then 

 dropped from the shoulder of the hill and fairly 

 flew across a smooth, grassy mesa, still running 

 hard, as we knew such a hot chase could not last 

 long, our horses straining every effort. Then, 

 simultaneously, we lay back with all there was in 

 us on our reins, throwing our horses back on their 

 haunches, for we had unwittingly ridden to the 

 very edge of a sickening drop. Some two hun- 

 dred feet of sheer rock ledge fell away almost at 

 our very feet. We slid from our mounts, and 

 pulled off our spurs to climb down by some means 

 or another, for there was unmistakably something 

 doing down in the ravine. 



"All we have to do is to get down there and 

 that lion is ours," said Hi; "the hounds have got 

 him on a perch near by," he added. It is needless 

 to say we reached the bottom but not without 

 scraping off a little hide and adding a few more 

 rips to our jeans. The creek bottom was rocky 

 and hard to travel, even on foot, but with gun and 

 camera we hurried along with all possible speed, 

 until we rounded a point which brought us 

 abruptly upon the dogs looking up and barking 

 at bay. There, at the end of a twenty- foot cleft 

 of rock ledge, crouched the cougar, with bared 

 teeth and savage mien, lashing his tail, snarling 



