422 BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA. 



the place where the dogs were. They redoubled their noise 

 when they saw him approach. Looking- into the top of the 

 fir-tree up which the dogs were barking, he was able to dis- 

 cern the lithe, tawny form of a Cougar stretched out upon 

 a limb, intently watching the dogs below. Raising his gun, 

 he fired one barrel, aiming at the animal's shoulder. This 

 shot seemed to have no effect; but at the report of the 

 second barrel, the Cougar fell from the tree, striking the 

 ground at his side. Instantly recovering itself, the Cougar 

 crouched and sprung at him, striking him on the shoulder 

 with its chest, knocking him down and falling upon him. 

 At this critical moment, one of his dogs seized the now 

 infuriated brute by a fore leg. Instantly releasing its hold 

 on the man, the Cougar caught the dog by the head, and 

 one bite was sufficient to lay him struggling in death. 



Davis by this time had regained his feet, and the Cougar, 

 dropping the dog, jumped at him again. Leaping aside, he 

 struck it with his gun, but with no. other effect than to 

 break the stock off the barrel. The brute turned and 

 sprung at him once more; but, moving quickly to one side, 

 he eluded it, and, as it was passing in the air, threw his left 

 arm around its body just behind its fore legs. Then, throw- 

 ing his weight upon the animal, he forced it to the ground. 

 Instantly raising the gun-barrel in his right hand, he struck 

 it a terrific blow on the head, and quickly followed it up 

 with another, and then others, until he could strike no 

 longer, and the Cougar had ceased to struggle, and lay dead 

 beneath him. 



Strange to say, with the exception of a few scratches, 

 Mr. Davis was uninjured; his greatest loss being. his new 

 sixty-dollar breech-loader and a suit of under-clothing that 

 was torn to shreds in the encounter. Going quietly home, 

 he went to bed, and did not even mention the cause of his 

 delay to his wife until the next morning. 



When he and his neighbors went to the scene of the fray 

 and skinned the Cougar, it measured eleven feet. Cougar- 

 skins are no curiosity here — one can be procured at any 

 time, almost, for a song; but that Cougar's skin was cut into 



