7 o AN AMERICAN HUNTER 



movable face, replied: " Gee! and that man sold him to 

 me for a seven-year-old! I'll have the law on him! " 



The hounds were most interesting, and showed all the 

 variations of character and temper to be expected in such 

 a pack; a pack in which performance counted for every- 

 thing and pedigree for nothing. One of the best hounds 

 was half fox terrier. Three of Johnny's had been with 

 us four years before, when he and I hunted cougars to- 

 gether; these three being Jim, now an old dog, who 

 dropped behind in a hard run, but still excellent on a 

 cold trail; Tree'em, who, like Jim, had grown aged, but 

 was very sure; and Bruno, who had become one of the 

 best of all the pack on a hot trail, but who was apt to over- 

 run it if it became at all difficult and cold. The biggest 

 dog of the pack, a very powerful animal, was Badge, who 

 was half foxhound and half what Johnny called Siberian 

 bloodhound I suppose a Great Dane or Ulm dog. His 

 full brother Bill came next to him. There was a Rowdy 

 in Jake's pack and another Rowdy in Johnny's, and each 

 got badly hurt before the hunt was through. Jake's 

 Rowdy, as soon as an animal was killed, became very 

 cross and wished to attack any dog that came near. One of 

 Jake's best hounds was old Bruise, a very sure, although 

 not a particularly fast dog. All the members of the pack 

 held the usual wild-beast attitude toward one another. 

 They joined together for the chase and the fight, but once 

 the quarry was killed, their relations among themselves 

 became those of active hostility or selfish indifference. 

 At feeding time each took whatever his strength per- 

 mitted, and each paid abject deference to whichever ani- 



