HOW WE PHOTOGRAPHED THE WILD CAT. 



COYOTE BILL. 



We called him " Old Kodunk." His 

 maiden name, that he brought to Colorado 

 with him, was " Big Kate"; but when he 

 got struck by lightning- we christened him 

 " Old Fireworks." Then when he insisted 

 on calling my kodak a " kodunk " we 

 branded him over again. Just what his 

 sure enough name was I never learned. 

 He was so modest he never seemed to care 

 to talk about himself, and his past life, and 

 I never urged him. 



But as I was going to say, when Old 

 Kodunk got mad about the coyote pho- 

 tographing contest, I had to round up a 

 new partner, in the trapping business. He 

 was a tenderfoot, just out from the East, 

 but he seemed about the right calibre, and 

 had a look in his eye that said he would 

 hang to danger till the rope broke, and 

 then go chase it. So I told him I guessed 

 he'd do. We set our traps in a w r ild little 

 canyon, where I had caught wild cats the 

 season before. I furnished the traps and 

 horses and he rode out every morning to 

 look after the traps, and was to bring me 

 word if we caught anything worth photo- 

 graphing. 



I knew there were lots of skunks in the 

 canyon, as well as wild cats; but I did not 

 let him know it. I reckoned he would find 

 it out for himself. And he did, you bet, for 

 he caught one or 2 skunks every morning, 

 for about a week, and buried a suit of 

 clothes every day, till he had nothing left 

 of his wardrobe but a pair of boxing gloves. 



So one morning, when he failed to show 

 up at the store, I guessed something was 

 wrong and slid around to his house to see 

 what the trouble was. I found him sitting 

 out in the back yard, with nothing on but 

 a pair of old overalls and a gunny sack. 



He looked sad and disgusted, like, and 

 didn't wear his accustomed smile. Guess 

 he had buried it with his last suit of clothes. 

 When I got around on the off side of him, 

 away from the wind, I inquired the cause 

 of his seeming sadness; but he didn't seem 

 inclined to talk much and, fearing he might 

 get mad and quit, I didn't urge him. I 

 merely reminded him that "faint heart 

 never won fair lady "; that " virtue was its 

 own reward " and a few other quotations, 

 of similar nature, that I had read in Shake- 

 speare and in Recreation. 



Then I loaned him an old suit of cor- 

 duroys and turned him loose again on the 

 cat track. It was not long after this till 

 I met him, one morning, coming up the 

 street, with a big smile playing on his coun- 

 tenance, like a flock of buzzards around a 

 dead steer, and I knew he had caught some- 

 thing more than a skunk this time. 



" Hurry up! Fox in one trap, wild cat 

 in the other. I killed the fox, but the cat's 

 alive and all right for a picture. Saddle 

 your camera and bring your horse, and 

 be quick about it." He got things mixed 

 a bit; but I knew what he meant, and was 

 not slow in getting my snapshot outfit in 

 shape for the trip. 



We had made our brags that if we got 

 a wild cat we would first take its picture 

 and then bring it in alive. I knew the eyes 

 of the amateurs of the country were upon 

 us, and that. the Recreation prize was at 

 stake. I also knew it was no easy job to 

 take a Rocky mountain wild cat out of a 

 steel trap and bring him in alive. I wished 

 I had Old Kodunk back again, for he never 

 missed fire on such occasions; so I sent 

 him a cipher dispatch, by a kid, on horse 

 back: 



" Bring lariat. Wild cat alive in trap. 

 Take our old trail by Convict Wilson's 

 cabin. Coyote Bill." 



It fetched him, you bet, and he was there 

 on time. I thought while we were having 

 a picnic with the wild cat we might as well 

 stir up the other animals too; so we got 

 one of the cow boys to start the report 

 that we had a mountain lion, and were go- 

 ing to fetch him in alive. 



We got a big crowd in no time and di- 

 rected them to take the right hand trail be- 

 yond the Soda Point; but while they were 

 off after horses and saddles we slid out in 

 a hurry, on the left hand trail a mile this 

 side, and were soon paying our compli- 

 ments to the wild cat. 



He didn't seem much pleased to meet us 

 and kicked up an awful dust when he saw 

 the kodak. Then we let him have one end 

 of the lariat, across his back, and he 

 squared around as if he were ready for 

 business; opened his mouth wide and 

 cussed us, in cat language, in great shape. 



I got in 2 good shots with the camera, 

 but they didn't suit me. Light was not 

 quite right. So we dusted him off again, 

 with the lariat, and coaxed him up a little 

 cedar tree where he sat, looking out be- 

 tween 2 limbs as natural as could be; just 

 as the sun peeps out over old Pike's peak. 



Such a chance for a snap shot a fellow 

 doesn't often get; and I improved the op- 

 portunity. I took 2 turns at him with the 

 kodak. Then we got the lariat around his 

 East end, and a smaller rope around his 

 West end, and strung him out. I took an- 

 other snap just as he was helping himself 

 to a bite of Old Kodunk's whiskers. Then, 

 after a good deal of cussing from Old Ko- 

 dunk, and words of exhortation from the 



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