THE MOUNTAIN LION 201 
of these proved to be an invention; in most 
cases not a lion or even lion track had been seen. 
Two instances of lion attacks are worth 
mentioning. One night in California a lion 
leaped from a cliff, struck a man, knocked him 
down, and then ran away. Out of this inci- 
dent have come numerous stories of lion fero- 
city. The lion was tracked, however, and the 
following day the pursuing hunter saw it cross- 
ing an opening. It suddenly clawed and hit at 
a boulder. Then, going on, it apparently ran 
into a tree, and fought that. As it started on 
the hunter shot it. This beast was badly 
emaciated, had a swollen face from an ulcerated 
tooth, and was nearly, if not entirely, blind. 
Another instance apparently was of a weak- 
minded lion. As though to attack, it came 
toward a little ten-year-old girl in Idaho. 
She struck it over the head with a bridle she was 
carrying. Her brother hurried to the rescue 
with a willow fishing pole. Together they beat 
the lion off and escaped with a few bad scratches. 
Yet had this been a lion of average strength 
and braveness he must have killed or severely 
injured both. 
The mountain lion rivals the shark, the devil- 
fish, and the grizzly in being the cause of fero- 
cious tales. The fact that he takes refuge on 
limbs as a place of lookout to watch for people 
