e we hugged the fire, Navvy brought up the horses and gave them
their oats. The hounds sought their shelter and the lions lay hidden
in their beds of pine. The round red sun dropped out of sight beyond
the trees, a pink glow suffused all the ridges; blue shadows gathered
in the hollow, shaded purple and stole upward. A brief twilight
succeeded to a dark, coldly starlit night.

Once again, when I had crawled into the warm hole of my sleeping bag,
was I hailed from the other tent.

Emett called me twice, and as I answered, I heard Jones remonstrating
in a low voice.

"Shore, Jones has got 'em!" yelled Jim. "He can't keep it a secret no
longer."

"Hey, Jones," I cried, "do you remember laughing at me?"

"No, I don't," growled Jones.

"Listen to this: Haw-haw! haw! haw! ho-ho! ho-ho! bueno! bueno!" and I
wound up with a string of "hi! hi! hi! hi! hi!"

The hounds rose up in a body and began to yelp.

"Lie down, pups," I called to them. "Nothing doing for you. It's only
Jones has got 'em."

XII

When we trooped out of the pines next morning, the sun, rising
gloriously bright, had already taken off the keen edge of the frosty
air, presaging a warm day. The white ridges glistened; the bunches of
sage scintillated, and the cedars, tipped in snow, resembled trees
with brilliant blossoms.

We lost no time riding for the mouth of Left Canyon, into which Jim
had trailed the three lions. On the way the snow, as we had expected,
began to thin out, and it failed altogether under the cedars, though
there was enough on the branches to give us a drenching.

Jim reined in on the verge of a narrow gorge, and informed us the cave
was below. Jones looked the ground over and said Jim had better
take the hounds down while the rest of us remained above to await
developments.

Jim went down on foot, calling the hounds and holding them close. We
listened eagerly for him to yell or the pack to open up, but we were
disappointed. In less than half an hour Jim came climbing out, with
the information that the lions had left the cave, probably the evening
after he had chased them there.

"Well, then," said Jones, "let's split the pack, and hunt round the
rims of these canyons. We can signal to each other if necessary."

So we arranged for Jim to take Ranger and the pups across Left Canyon;
Emett to try Middle Canyon, with Don and Moze, and we were to perform
a like office in Right Canyon with Sounder and Jude. Emett rode back
wit