570 
of them drank much, the older dogs 
the least of all; presumably they had 
learned that they could travel better on 
a little water than on a great deal. 
From here we followed along the 
ridge of the hills—we were now on the 
cattle range of the great Chino ranch— 
until we came to the side of a cafion, 
better wooded and more steep than the 
rest; this was known locally as Brea 
cafion, from the immense beds of 
asphaltum found along its bottom. It 
RECREATION 
injured a horse on any of his trips. 
After him I went and after me the 
other two. Once through the fringe of 
brushwood that rimmed the cafion we 
saw slipping away for two hundred 
yards or more beneath us a steep slope 
of green fox-tail grass, wet with the 
heavy fog and the dew, the slipperiest 
thing in all the out-of-doors. Before’ 
we could check our horses, Ed. was 
half way to the bottom, and my - 
little sorrel, putting his front feet to- 

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WILD-CAT DOGS 
There is enough hound in them to give them the necessary trailing ability, enough Great Dane to give them 
weight and stamina, and just a “‘leetle’’? bulldog to make them good fighters 
was, at the time of which I write, 
practically uninhabited, and down into 
it we sent the three trailers reinforced 
by two other of the older and better 
dogs. Ed. assured me that there would 
be something doing in a very short 
time and he proved a truthful prophet. 
The hounds entered a small patch of 
scrub oak midway down the cafion side 
and almost immediately broke into 
strong baying. At the same time there 
slipped out of the other side of the 
covert a rounded body, silent, and run- 
ning with every motion of the cat tribe. 
As one man we raised the view 
halloo, and with a jerk of his hand Ed. 
released the remaining five dogs and 
sent his horse headlong over the edge 
of the hill. A more reckless and still 
a more sure rider than Ed. I have 
never seen, yet he has never been in- 
jured, and I do not believe he has ever 
gether, started down. Believe me it 
was a most exhilarating slide. Just as 
I reached the bottom of the hill I turned 
to see one of the other members of the 
party, coming behind, slipping feet 
foremost down the hill. In all truth 
it was a laughable sight, but the fear 
that he might be injured held back any 
laughter until he got to his feet roundly 
berating the saddle girth that had 
broken. Relieved of rider and saddle 
the trained cow-pony walked decorously 
to the bottom and there stopped, feed- 
ing contentedly from the lush grasses. 
By this time the hunt, with Ed. a- 
trail, had gone well up the cafion. I 
rode back up the hill and got the luck- 
less saddle, only to discover that it had 
been put entirely out of commission, 
the cinch being broken in two places. 
There was nothing for the hunter, 
then, but to follow bareback; he de- 
