106 SPORTING ADVENTURES 



away no cougar was visible. Not knowing whether it was dead 

 or had escaped,! moved forward cautiously, with rifle cocked and 

 ready for instant use, and when I reached the base of the crag 

 I saw it extended at full length on its side. Lighting a 

 match, I examined it cursorily, and found it was dead. 

 Leaving it where it was, I clambered up the chasm to meet 

 my companion and announce to him my good fortune, but he 

 was nowhere visible. I began to call his name, but no response 

 came. Wondering what could have become of him, ! com- 

 menced groping about, thinking that he might have met with 

 an accident, but after trudging up and down the terraces for 

 half an hour, I could find no trace of him. I then became 

 really alarmed, and advanced to where the bait was placed, 

 but that was gone. I divined from this that some animal had 

 stolen it, and that he had started in pursuit of the thief, and 

 this reassured me, as he was too good a backwoods-man to get 

 lost, and too experienced a hunter to risk his life unnecessarily. 

 After waiting half an hour, and shouting at intervals, I con- 

 cluded that he was watching the object of his pursuit, and did 

 not wish to answer my call for fear of spoiling his chances at 

 bagging it. Another half-hour, and still no tidings of him, 

 induced me to make an effort to find him, and as the moon 

 then appeared from beneath a mass of clouds, I decided to 

 track him, if possible. When Luna's face was thoroughly 

 clear I bent low to the ground, and readily detected his foot- 

 steps on the grass and leaves, and by their length apart I 

 knew he was running. As cats in flight generally keep a 

 direct course, I concluded to follow a straight line, so 1 tore 

 through the forest at a headlong pace and called every now 

 and then. When I had proceeded a mile or more I heard a 

 weak cry, and, advancing towards it, found my friend lying in 

 some briar bushes, face upward, and a dead cougar not ten 

 i'eet from him. Lifting him up, I asked what ailed him, and, 

 in feeble tones, he told me that the animal had attacked ami 

 wounded him severely, if not fatally. 



When placed on his feet, he found he could walk, so with my 

 aid he tottered slowly home, but he was so weak that he could 

 not carry his gun. After walking a seemingly interminable 



