the Young Lion Hunter (1998) (20 page)

"I went down about five hundred feet until a precipice stopped me. From it I heard Prince baying and almost instantly saw a lion in a treetop.

"That roused me and I yelled, 'Hi! Hi! Hi!' to encourage Prince.

"I thought it would be wise to look before I leaped. The Bay lay under me, a mile wide where it opened into the big smoky Ca+-on. It seemed like an awful, bottomless pit. I tell you for a moment the sight shook my nerve, but I had to go after Prince. I ran along to the left and came to where the cliff ended in a weathered slope.

"Once started in dead earnest, it was like playing a game that had to be won. My boots struck fire from the rocks. I slid and hung on and let go to slide again. I started avalanches of weathered rock and then outfooted them.

"But soon I had to go slower and climb over things. Prince bayed once in a while, and I yelled to him to let him know I was coming. A white bank of decayed limestone led down to a runway, where I made up time. Here Prince's bay kept me going. Flying down this to a clump of cedars, I ran in among them and saw Prince standing with fore paws against a big cedar. I saw a lion moving down. Then the crash and rattle of stones told me he had jumped. Prince ran after him.

"I dashed down, dodged under cedars, and threaded openings in the rocks to come to a ravine with a bare, water-worn floor. Patches of sand showed the tracks of Prince and the lion. Those of the lion were so large they made my blood run cold. They were twice the size of any tracks I had seen before. Running down this dry stream-bed was the easiest going yet. Every rod or so the stream-bed dropped from four to ten feet, often more, and these places I slid down.

"The cougar didn't appear to tree any more. I feared every moment to hear the sounds of a fight, for I remembered that Hiram had said an old cougar would get tired running and stop to kill the hound.

"Down, down, down I went. I saw that we were almost to the real jump-off, the great, wide main ca+-on, and I wondered what would happen when we reached it. Suddenly I came upon Prince baying wildly under a pi+-on on the brink of a deep cove.

"Looking up I had the fright of my life. The cougar was immense and so old that his color was almost gray. His head was huge, his paws short and round. He did not spit, nor snarl, nor growl; he did not look at Prince, but kept his half-shut eyes on me.

"Before I had time to move he left his perch and hit the ground with a thud. At first I made sure he intended to attack me, and I jerked out my revolver. But he walked slowly past Prince and without a moment's hesitation leaped down into the cove. A rattling crash of sliding stones came up with a cloud of dust. Then I saw him leisurely picking his way among the rough stones.

"Prince came whining to me, and together we went along the cove till we found a place where we could get down. We crawled and jumped and fell till we reached the bottom, and again Prince took the trail.

"Almost before I knew what I was about I stood on the second wall of the ca+-on, with nothing but thin air under me. I tell you it made me gasp.

"Prince's bark came to me, and I turned round a corner of cliff wall and saw him on a narrow shelf. He was coming, and when he got to me he faced about and barked fiercely. The hair on his neck stuck up.

"'Come on, Prince,' I called.

"That was the only time I ever knew of Prince hesitating to chase a lion. I had to coax him, for he didn't like that narrow shelf. But, once started, he wouldn't let me lead. The shelf was twenty feet wide, and close to the wall were lion tracks in the dust. A jutting corner of cliff wall hid my view. I peeped round it. On the other side the shelf narrowed and it climbed a little by broken steps. Prince passed the corner, looked back to see if I was coming, and went on. He looked back four times, and once he waited for me to come up with him.

"'I'm with you, Prince,' I kept calling.

"The shelf narrowed till it was scarcely three feet wide. Prince stopped barking, then looked back for me. A protruding corner shut me from sight of what lay beyond. Prince slipped round. I had to go sidewise and my fingers bit into the wall.

"To my surprise I found myself on the floor of a shallow wind-cave. The lion trail led straight across it and on. Prince went slower and slower.

"I rounded the next point, and crossed another shallow cave, and slipped by another corner to come upon a wonderful scene. The trail ended there. In the center of a wide shelf sat the great lion on his haunches, with his long tail lashing out over the precipice. When he saw us he turned round and walked the whole length of the shelf with his head bent over. He was looking for a place to jump. Then he stopped and bent his head so far over the abyss that I thought he would fall.

"All at once I thought of my camera, and at the same time forgot all about Hiram's telling me never to take my eye off a cougar when al close quarters. I got my camera, opened it, and focused for about twenty-five feet.

"Then a wild yelp from Prince and a roar from the cougar brought me to my senses. The cat leaped ten feet and stood snarling horribly almost in my face. His lashing tail knocked little stones off the shelf. I pulled out my revolver and aimed, once, twice, but was afraid to shoot. If I wounded him he would knock us off the shelf.

"It was then I got scared and began to shake so I could scarcely keep my knees from sinking under me. But good old Prince was braver than I, and he had more sense. He faced the lion and bayed at him.

"'Hold him, Prince, hold him,' I yelled, and I took a backward step.

"The cougar put forward one big paw. His eyes were now purple blazes. I backed again and he stepped forward. Prince gave ground slowly. Once the lion flashed a yellow paw at him. It was frightful to see the wide-spread claws. In the terror of the moment I let the lion back me clear across the front of the wind-cave, where I saw, the moment it was too late, I should have taken advantage of more space to shoot him.

"The cougar was master of the situation. I kept backing step by step, and I saw the shelf narrowing under my feet. When I remembered the place where it would be impossible for me to back around I almost fainted. I stopped stock still and almost tottered over the precipice.

"Somehow Prince's bravery gave me a kind of desperate strength at the last. The lion, taking slow, cat-like steps, backed Prince against my knees. The great brute was within his own length of me, so close that I smelt him. His eyes fascinated me. Hugging the wall with my body, I brought up the revolver, short-armed, and, straining every nerve, I aimed between those eyes and pulled the trigger.

"The cougar's left eye seemed to vanish with the bellow of the revolver and the smell of powder. He uttered a hoarse howl, and rose straight up, towering over me, beating the wall heavily with his paws.

"I stood there, helpless with terror, forgetting my weapon, fearing only that the beast would fall over on me and brush me off the shelf. But in his death agony he bounded out from the wall, turned over and over, and went down out of sight.

"I had to sit down then. I was all in. The relief made me sick. I sat there with Prince's head on my knees, and slowly got back my strength. Finally, when I tried to rise, my legs were still shaky and I felt as weak as if I were just up from a long sickness. Three times I tried to go round the narrow place. On the fourth I braced up and went around, and soon reached the turn of the wall.

"I was six hours in climbing out...And I guess I've had enough cougar chasing to do me for a while."

Chapter
XX - AROUND THE CAMP-FIRE

"Wal, youngster," began the old hunter, after a long silence, "I allus reckoned thet Prince was a great hound. An' it's only when a feller gits out alone with a dog an' gits in lonesome or dangerous places thet he really knows how human a dog is."

"Oh! it was grand of Prince to stay between Ken and the lion," exclaimed Hal.

"Shore it's a shame thet hound'll hey to be killed by a cougar some day," remarked Jim.

"I reckon now thet day'll never come," replied Hiram.

"Why? Shore you always said so."

"Prince shall never put his nose to another cougar trail, an' he's goin' back to Pennsylvania with the youngster."

"Hiram! do you really mean to give him to me?" asked Ken, in glad surprise.

"Wal, I reckon so. I'll miss him, but Ringer is comin' on, an' will lead the pack."

"Hiram--it's good of you--I'll--" Ken left off and hugged Prince by way of reply, and the hound licked his face. For once Hal did not look jealous over Ken's possession of something that he could not hope to rival for himself.

"Ken, if you have enough cougar hunting, what next?" I asked.

"The rest of my time here I'll put in studying forestry, and I want you to help me. I declare, I've completely forgotten my work. But I'll make it up. I'm a fine ranger, eh?"

"Wal, youngster, a ranger's duties are many," replied Hiram. "Now, if the Chief was to ask you about cougars, same as he asked you about forest-fires last summer, you could tell him a few things."

"I guess I could," declared Ken.

"Your time hasn't been wasted, an' now thet nobody has been hurt bad or any hosses or hounds killed I feel pretty happy about the hunt. From now on, while I'm hyar on the plateau, I'll tree cougars an' kill 'em, fer I've orders to clear the preserve of them, you know. Meantime you will be addin' to your knowledge of trees, an' Hal will be gittin' well. I calkilate he ought not to ride down these trails fer two weeks. Thet will be long enough for his ankle to git strong. Then we'll pack our cougars out to Kanab. An' we've got to stop down in the brakes at our corral, an' ketch our wild mustangs. We've most forgot them. It'll be some fun--thet job."

"Ken, are you going back to college this fall?" I asked.

"Yes, but I intend to get ahead of my term and take some time off--about January and February--to go South. I want to see the tropics, to study the jungle timber and vegetation."

"Shore you'll look up some trouble down there," said Jim. "I've been in Mexican jungles, along the Rio Grande. Millions of things to shoot."

"Ken, I'm going with you," declared Hal. "You're going to start in college," said Ken, severely.

"Do you suppose I'd be any good in college with you somewhere in the jungle? Wait till I see father. He'll let me go."

"You'd have a fine chance ever getting to go to any wild place again--if I told him how you jumped over the rim of the Grand Ca+-on just to scare your brother and friends!"

"I didn't--I didn't," denied Hal, vehemently. "I fell over--and I knocked some sense into me, too...But, Ken, you'll never tell the governor, will you?"

"Lad, I reckon Ken won't give you away," said Hiram. "Fer he an' all of us believe thet adventure has taught you the difference between fun an' foolhardiness. I'd trust you now, an' if I would, surely your brother would...Now, Leslie, you spring your little surprise on the boys."

I turned to Ken and Hal, then hesitated.

"Hiram," I said, "are you sure the Indian can't understand English? I don't want even a word of this to get to any ears but ours."

Ken Ward leaned forward, with his eyes suddenly flashing dark, and Hal sat up in glowing curiosity. Hiram sent the Navajo off to bunch the horses.

"Well, boys, it's this," I began. "Hiram and Jim and I are not going to sign contracts with the Forest Service for next year. We think we've got something a little better. We've found traces of gold down in the Ca+-on, and we believe there's enough gold to pay us to go after it. And there are chances we may strike it rich...So next summer we want you both to come out and go with us--after gold."

Ken Ward uttered his ringing shout and Hal looked the wild joy that his speechless tongue could not utter. That was their answer.

"Wal, wal, somehow I kinder thought you'd like the idee," said Hiram, as he filled his pipe. "We all want you to come bad. Thar'll be some of the real thing--'specially if any of them no-good fellers like the one Ken licked git wind of our enterprise. Wal, I reckon we'd hey to fight. How about thet, Jim?"

"Shore, shore," replied the Texan.

So the three of us talked and planned while Ken and Hal drank in every little word.

Meanwhile the camp-fire died down to a small red blaze and the shadows darkened under the pines. Prince went to sleep with his head on his new master's knees. From the captive lions came an occasional soft-padded, stealthy step and a low growl and a clink of chain. The wind began to moan. A twig snapped, and the lithe figure of the Indian strode out of the forest gloom.

"Sleep-ie, Navvy?" asked Ken.

"Moocho," answered the Navajo.

Then he began to prepare his bed for the night. Selecting a spot close to the campfire, he dug out a little pit in the pine-needles and threw a blanket over it. He kicked off his shoes, lay down and curled up with his back and the soles of his bare feet toward the heat. It seemed to me that the moment he had pulled his other scant blanket over his shoulders he went to sleep.

The red light of the dying fire shone on his dusky face and tangled black hair. Ken Ward watched him, and so did Hal. Lying there, covered with his old blanket, there was Indian enough and wildness enough about him to suit any boy. By and by, as we all sat silent, Navvy began to mumble in his sleep.