The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-10-28
THE. YOUNG COUGAR tanner
A STRANGE GIFT POSSESS ESSED BY
AN ARIZONA BOY.

| an ARIZONA Roy.
How He Won the Confidence of a Pair of
| Mountain Lions, but Abused it by Steal
ing Their Young-A Strange Siege in IA
| Cave-Dweller's Apartment-Dowie's VIC
| tory.
In the early days of Arizona's histo-
ry, Desmit's hacienda was the only hui
man habitation for miles along the Rio
Verde. Desmit kept huge droves of
| merino sheep, and better still, kept at
peace with the Moqui, Yavapai and
Salt River Indians who ruled in that
valley and in contiguous territory.
DoWie Desmit, the only son of the
proprietor, While yet in his teens, came
to love the lonely life of a herder He
| had never been known to carry a gun,
but was the friend of every living thing
which inhabited the desert lands Of the
Verde. Even the notified, half-mad
b-cats-a species of small lynx-of
the river lodges and cave dwellings,,
which ran splitting and bristling away
from other intruders, avoided Dowie in
half-pacific Sinking fashion. The boy
was by nature a tanner of beasts, with
arts peculiar to himself, insidious and
persistent. He had many pets among
the wild things, some of them odd and
uncanny enough. Among the numer-
Gus hollowed-out lodges under the rock
Lodges of the Verde DoWie became
sort of cave-dweller, and had his day
time habitation in one of the walled-in
pocket dwellings haunted by bobcats,
by lizards and chameleons, and even by
cougars.
in one OF the largest of these old cave
rooms, with an unusually high roof,
Dowie had his hermitage. Here, front
ing considerable terrace of earth and
debris, he played with his odd pets and
curosities. Meantime the sheep, which
needed no more care than he gave,
strayed upon the mesa or the river
Hats. A bob-cat, chained to a staple in
the wall of the cave; family of prai-
RE dogs, which he had domiciled upon
the terrace; an owl or two; chameleons,
horned toads. lizards and harmless
snakes-such We're his pets. His me
nagerie" was an inexpensive one-only
the bob-cat had to he fed with refuse
from the hacienda table. The rest
even the owls, roamed freely; simply
lived in their haunts on familiar terms
with their tanner
Only one thing was wanting to com
plete his happiness he must have a con-
gar. In the rear of the ledge. fronting
wild, rough canon, a pair of cougars
had their lair in the deep recesses Of a
cavehouse. While Dowie had never
dared to enter their den, he had known
them long, and paid them visits after
fashion. He had learned their daytime
habits pretty well and had no fear of
them outside their lair. Cougars at
tack only at night, and even then they
rarely approach a man. So on certain
sunshiny days, when the air of the cav
erns was little cool, he went cautious
ly to visit his cougar friends. sure of
finding the sleek old pumas asleep-or
counterfeiting sleep, for they had
doubtless heard his cautious footballs
far around the ledge. They Law
stretched upon jutting shelf OF rock
within two or three leaps of their cave
lair's mouth. He had learned also to
De just as sure or the manner OF his re-
ception.
AS he stole softly up the ancient
pathway and came into view at thirty
steps distance, the male cougar would
lift it's head and snarl in deep, warning
fashion, showing rows of beautiful
teeth, while the female would lie at
first, with nose between her paws. an
parently asleep. Then Dowie would
seat himself upon a boulder. and the
male puma would rise upon it's haunch-
es yawn as if bored. and snarl more
gently. as if partly appeased nv the
visitors pacific disposition. Then. as
her mate grew quiet. or gna,we1 at the
fieas upon it's tanks. the female would
take her turn in terrific snarling.
Without raising her head she would
hatten her ears and begin in a low.
hoarse note. slapping her tail yiciously
upon the rock. and raise her terrible
voice in a ouavering crescendo. until
the air fairly shook with her shrill cry:
then she would break off more sudden
w than she began, repeat the perfor-
nance two or three times, and again lie
inert with closed ewes and sleepy WIS.,
age.
Than Dovie would begin. He would
1asn toward the cougars, throw all his
soul into his ewes and voice, and Groom
in wheeling, honeyed accents:
"Oooee. oooee, oooee. mooee. mooee.
mooev poorly coogars. oogars.