374 BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA. 



assume the role of referee, and mentally declaring the tight 

 a draw, took a shot at the Cat. This broke up the affair 

 suddenly. 



The Cat stood with his head to my right when I fired. 

 I held for his shoulder, but realized that, as I pulled the 

 trigger, I pulled the muzzle off to the right. ' ' There, ' ' I said 

 to myself, "I have missed him." But when the smoke 

 cleared away, I was surprised to see him floundering where 

 he had stood. I then turned my attention to the Coyote, 

 who, notwithstanding the hard work he had lately done 

 and the large quantity of gore he had wasted, was getting 

 out of the country at a rate that would have left the fastest 

 horse on the turf out of sight in five minutes. I shot at 

 him three times, but he did not stop — at least not while I 

 could see him. He was headed straight for Mexico, and, 

 for aught I know, is there now. 



Then I went to pick up my Cat; but he was gone, too. I 

 went to where he had stood when I shot, and found some 

 small pieces of meat and bones, some blood and some hair, 

 but the rest of him was gone. There was a deep gulch close 

 by, and I tracked him where he had rolled and tumbled 

 to the brink of this, apparently making his dying kicks as 

 he went. He had tumbled down into it, and I followed. 

 I saw several places where he had struck rocks or bushes, 

 leaving blood and hair on them, and fully expected to find 

 him dead at the foot of the hill, if not lodged somewhere 

 this side. I slid and scrambled down about three hundred 

 feet, when I found where the pesky varmint had gotten his 

 feet again and gone off on a series of long jumps that 

 would have done honor to a healthy jack-rabbit. I fol- 

 lowed him a considerable distance, and though he was 

 leaving some blood on his trail, he seemed to be getting 

 nicely rested, and to have started for Hudson's Bay. So, 

 with a sad heart and a pair of tired legs, I climbed back up 

 the almost perpendicular wall of the gulch to the scene of 

 the battle. It seemed that I had not pulled off quite so far 

 as I supposed, and had shot away either his nose or his 

 lower jaw — most likely the latter. 



