THE PANTHER 
47 
Just call me Charlie, Buck; we are all men to- 
gether on this trip. No, they never kill people. Un¬ 
less a man happens to become tangled with one close 
up, for some reason. They do kill a lot of sheep, 
goats, calves, colts, even grown horses, and cows and 
deer. That’s why all ranchers in the western coun¬ 
try object to them. Really the lions are beautiful ani¬ 
mals, graceful and quick as your pet cat at home. But 
they eat so much livestock we have to kill them when 
we can. They aren’t as troublesome as they used to 
be, however.” 
The hunters continued talking about lions for more 
than an hour, moving along at a fast walk. Suddenly 
one of the dogs, Old Baldy, far ahead of them, gave 
a peculiar long yowl. Instantly Charlie was alert. 
“That’s lion talk!” he declared. “Old Baldy’s 
caught the scent of lion. I know his call.” 
Old Baldy bayed again, and the riders spurred their 
horses to catch up with him. Buck was almost beside 
himself with excitement, but he was busy staying in 
his saddle, too, for the country was rough. 
Soon all the dogs were on the lion trail, and the 
horsemen were following them as fast as they could. 
They had to ride over hills, jump ditches and rocks, 
circle canyons, and find their way among trees, but 
