THE COUGAR. 425 



but if you bay them on a cold trail, they will get a long 

 start, and give you a long run. Then I could not keep in 

 hearing, and we would never get them.' 



' ' I had now gone down, got my dog, and come back up. 

 As I glanced over the evidences of that fearful struggle 

 again, I was more than ever anxious to kill those skulking 

 Cougars. I tied a string around the dog's jaws, so that he 

 couldn't give tongue, and held him on the chain until he 

 got the trail fresh. All question as to the varmints being 

 near was soon removed. It would have done you good to 

 see that dog. He rolled, tumbled, and pawed at that string 

 on his jaws, worse than a mad cat. 'I guess this sign's 

 fresh enough,' I thought, out loud; so I loosed the collar, 

 cut the string, and the dog was off as if he had been shot 

 out of a gun. And when he went out of sight in the 

 bushes, every hair on his back stood straight up like porcu- 

 pine-quills. 



"I followed with the best speed I could make in the 

 -brush and over the down timber. As luck would have it, 

 the dog never said a word for about three minutes. Then 

 there was music. He let out the blamedest string of yells 

 I ever heard from one dog in my life. It lasted for only 

 about two minutes, when the yelling ceased, and I heard 

 the welcome ooh ! ooh ! ooh ! 



" 'Yes, they've treed, sure as I'm alive, and they must 

 have gone up the nearest tree to their bed!' Former experi- 

 ence with Cougars had taught me to make as little noise as 

 possible when approaching them in a tree, as they are liable 

 to jump where there is (but one dog, and make off. I crept 

 up cautiously, and coming in sight of the hemlock-tree up 

 which the dog was barking, saw a large Cougar about fifteen 

 feet above the ground. His ears were laid back flat on his 

 head, and his long tail was nervously twisting about. 



" I didn't stop to look for the other one, as one Cougar 

 at a time is enough for me. In a moment I had the sights 

 of my rifle in line with the butt of his ear, and when I 

 pressed the trigger he sprung at least six feet in the air, and 

 came down dead. As he struck the ground, I saw a yellow 



