IN THE FAR WEST. 105 



croaking of frogs, and the whirring of the tree-locust. Fire-Hies 

 were very numerous, and their transitory gleaming proved a 

 welcome sight, as it somewhat illumined the inky darkness 

 that reigned in the chasm. The lonely hours flowed on with 

 slow paces to me, until the vigil began to grow from being 

 monotonous to being exceedingly tedious. I was about 

 despairing of meeting any cougar that night, when a sharp, 

 fierce scream rung out in the precipice, a short distance below 

 me, and the rocks and trees took this up and caused it to 

 reverberate in stentorian tones for several seconds. It was so 

 sudden and unexpected that it startled me violently, but 

 when my first surprise was over I prepared for emergencies by 

 noiselessly cocking my repeating rifle, and placing my knife 

 more in front, so as to have it ready, should it be necessary to 

 use it. I then peered intently into the Cimmerian darkness in 

 quest of the animal, but I could see nothing. I next extended 

 myself flat on the ground and looked skyward at an oblique 

 angle, but nothing met the vision except precipitous walls and 

 masses of black clouds that were scurrying to the leeward 

 before a stiff breeze, though in my cavernous retreat I could 

 not feel a breath of it. After gazing for a few moments with 

 such intensity as to strain my eyes, and to make the eyelids 

 somewhat sore, I noticed an animal emerge suddenly from 

 some low shrubbery and come towards me with long, 

 noiseless bounds. Thinking I was the object of an assault, 

 I jumped to my feet promptly, and when the cougar, for 

 such it was, passed by me within a distance of three or four 

 yards, I fired at it almost without taking aim, and mingled 

 vith. the report was the sharp yell of an angry, wounded cat. 

 This was a pleasant but a dangerous predicament for me, and 

 not caring for an encounter, I leaped back to the shelter of a 

 rock and fired once more at the limping animal. There was 

 no feline response to this detonation, so I moved forward to 

 see what was the result of my fire. Before I had advanced a 

 few feet I saw the cougar making vain efforts to leap up on the 

 boulder, and the moment I perceived that I concluded it was my 

 prisoner. Taking aim as carefully as I could in the darkness, I 

 fired four shots in rapid succession, and when the smoke cleaicd 



