The Banner-Democrat., 1901-01-05

| IN eager anxiety TO nnd the prey. IN
lion whirled about several times, the
made a leap to the right, then directl
toward me. Then he lost the scent an
crOuched, his red muZZle quivering
his ears twitching curiously, while hi
tail whipped to and fro.
Now he rose again and moved, sniff
> ing cautiously along the rim of tn,
gully. He seemed to reason that tn,
scented creature must have shifted 1T
, position. Again his nose took wind o
me, and crouching, he shifted down a
the gaping cut as If to make sure o.
the direction. Then, as his ears wer,
laid fiat, and his yellow talons were
unsheathed to take firm grip upon tht
rock, gave myself up for lost.
With his snarls menacing me ant
growing louder and louder, l knew
the creature was certain of his ground
He had not been blind always, and he
had leaped many times upon the shell
where l lay. Horror-stricken,
watched him gather himself, and then
vault in sweeping curve above the
chasm and alight upon the rocks with
In four or five steps of where lay.
i / expected instant death. My nerves
were suddenly racked with cutting
pahs, which ran through my chest un-
til j gasped for breath. And yet the
snarling, shifting lion did not spring
upon me. He had jumped to wind
ward OF me, and the air currents nc
longer carried the scent. He reared
again upon his hind feet, snuffing anx-
iously. Then to my joy his bristles
lowered, his savage aspect changed to
one of distrust, and he turned and
leaped back across the cut.
He stood upon the brink for a mo-
ment In listening attitude of suspic-
ion, and then, trotting away, disap-
peared with his lair.
1t was now showing very fast, and
In the next few minutes, relieved of
Intense reacting pains, did some hard
thinking. l dared not shout to attract
the attention of my fellow-hunters, and
| was In momentary fear of a reap
pearance Of the puma, or, worse yet, Of
its mate.
The weather was warm, hardly at
the freezing point, and was warmly
clothed. I might, concluded, survive
twenty-four hours and longer if let
alone by the lions. and long before that
time Curtis and Pete would be scour-
Ing the hills for me. Camp was not
more than two miles distant. 1 decid-
ed to lie quiet in the snow until 1
should hear some sound of searching.
Within half an hour the wisdom of
this course was made apparent. Then
I saw, coming down out of the storm
upon the far slope, two more red-yel-
low beasts, which soon proved to be
the blind lions mate and her we'll
grown cub.
l shrank in fear under my covering
Of snow. Some taint of my presence
there was yet in the notch, for both
the lions paused, at twenty steps or so,
and snarled angrily, with bristling
backs and nervous twitching Of their
tails.
For moment the two seemed to be
glaring straight at me, and closed my
eyes in fearful suspense. l waited,
hardly breathing for some seconds;
then, hearing no more of the cougars,
l looked again, to find that they had
passed on and gone into their lair. 1t
was but a moment, however, before
they reappeared, and this time the
blind male was with them. The three
passed together up the ridge beyond.
There had been kill somewhere, and
the blind lions mate and cub had come
to conduct him to the feast.
Under safer circumstances, 1 should
have felt the keeDest interest In this
evidence Of family devotion among
fierce beasts and, with perfect oppor-
tunity, l should have hesitated to kill |
either the dam or her cub. AS it was, |
l was to witness something very like
a tragedy.
The lions had been gone a half-hour,
when l heard the booming
crack, crack of a rifle just over the
rock ridge in front of me. i answered
the shots with a halo as lusty as /
could give, and hitched myself to a
more conspicuous posture against the
ledge. l shouted again and again, a
rather feeble wall. but loud enough to
be heard at considerable distance.
Then, as II by magic, was confront
ed by the three lions, which had slid
down an inward curve of the rock ledge
upon my left. They came on in great
bounds to within fifteen or twenty
yards of my perch. There catching
sight OF me, the two foremost came to
= halt, and united their voices in men,
ace. 1t was easy to be seen that some
thing exciting and unusual had hap
pened to the puma family. The blind
one, apparently cowed by his helpless
ness. skunk to his cavern. muttering
a. hs ran. Despite their say
age demonstrations, the dam sna her
pnh dld sst Astsak