The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-08-15
Edited by
AUNT BUSY
Our BOYS and Girls

sao,a6 supper that evening ,,,bi,.
Ill "a on the veranda, Uncle Ter, III" me
! lion. ieht With mountain
TN IN lSoI, said Uncle Jerry "wbi,o IN
t,,,, ~as ana New Mexico. part If tba
! hotS vi d ranch, a friend and mvseif
! wav oIimpoys' were slowly picking our
moi,n4ai,,s canyon in the Rocky
s saG1il '1lhs' when suddenly NV frienG
salo lush and pointed SOM - i dii
esritee ahead. There, where if was MOI,
opeiI ana smooth, was a magnificen,
IiIoul TAIN lion standing over L..
wien ne had just killed. Seein, fWo
L. LII, "a horseback, frightened him. but
re,. 'itoNed ms teeth in a terrible man
IN go nerce growl, and made for
me brush several hundred feet dc
lance. He was big fellow anS ~. ~
ne raised his head we could 81 -, -
was. Nsiee' animal NJ
me mountain lion. or puma and
Lso hiloWn as the panther or cougar is
t ne largest representative of the cal
- Inc puma lives mostly in trees.
t IL sits crouching upon the
- eiienes watching for it's prey. Should
q sanitary animal or man mass with
IN reach, the puma will NOT hesits+o =,
poullce upon It, but if a herd of ami
lhais' or party Of men. be travelling to-
selher, ne will follow behind. hopine TO
secure a straggler Birds are strnck
down by single blow of the numa,e
paw ana so quick are its movements
lIldI even though a bird is not killed
aliu mas risen on the wing the puma
VIII Jump many feet into the air and
arrest the fight of the winged nrey
ne puma is also a good fisherman. He
VIII sit down beside a stream and
should an unfortunate fish swim with
~ .feach his nimble paw is quickly out
stretched. and the fish is swept out of
me water and quickly devoured. Pu-
mas nave been known to follow travel
5ts iof many miles and for days. only
DARING TO show itself at rare intervals
and never daring to make an attack
except through stealth. If a puma is
after you. all that is necessary to make
II moe itself is to look at it. and the
beast becomes discounted at once 1t
eye.
We at once gave chase on our
trained horses, and just before the
bounding animal reached a place of
SAFETY We raised our lariats and
Whlz. they went like snakes through
the air. and almost like living things
they settled over the animals head and
one leg. The horses at once braced
themselves and the terrible leon del
monte. with screams of rage, bit at
the hide ropes and .ore up the dirt in
the most desperate manner.
| at once wheeled my horse to one
SIDE and my companion to the other,
and there he was between us and un-
able to reach either of us He made
one vicious spring at me but while in
the air the rope of my friend brought
him quickly to earth. Without trained
horses this could not have been done.
But our animals knew US and obeyed
our every movement.
Gradually We shortened the lines
between us and then dragged the ami
NAL along, intending to take him to
our camp, but we finally concluded
that his skin would be torn. so we
raised our rifles and each sent in a
shot. The big cat fell over and after
a great deal of fuss he expired.
We at once began to take off his |
skin. and were about through when |
our attention was attracted by a wild, |
piercing scream and. upon turning |
about. we saw the dead lions mate |
ready to spring upon us. BY the time |
we got our guns the lion had already |
made a spring at US. so we had no |
time to take aim, but let go with our
guns and then jumped aside. The ami |
NAL was hit with one bullet and fell |
in a heap, but was not fatally wound |
ed. We both turned to our lariats as
means of capturing the animal SO we |
got on our horses. threw our ropes and |
before the maddened animal got up it |
was being choked at one end and it's /
leg pulled at the other 1t was not |
long before we had it alongside its |
mate, and few hours later we each |
lions SIrir1 fbrOxx-r1 pz-aY- fba bopIrc
VI our horses.
THAT was a pretty dangerous ad-
venture. and had either of the animals |
got hold of u.s. it would have been the
Heath of US, 1 don't doubt Our
Young People