nt of the very ledge which held him, and it was preparing
for immediate action. It was a cougar, or American panther, of full
size, on the watch for antelopes, and now had crept almost within
springing distance. Two Arrows laid his hand upon the head of One-eye to
keep him silent, and watched breathlessly to see the end of that
hunting. Nearer and nearer crept the cougar, and still the big-horn was
absorbed in his study of matters down below. He stepped forward to the
very edge, and below him the rock came down with a perpendicular face of
a hundred feet. There was no danger that he would grow dizzy, but even
the cougar would have done wisely to have ascertained beforehand the
precise nature of the trap set for him. As it was, he gathered his lithe
and graceful form for his leap, every muscle quivering with eagerness,
and he put all his strength into one great, splendid bound. It was as
sure as a rifle-shot, and it landed him upon the shoulders of the
big-horn. He had seized his prize, but he had done too much: he had
fallen with a weight and force which sent him and his antelope
irresistibly over the rocky edge, and down, down, down they came
together with a great thud upon the granite below.

"Whoop!" The voice of Two Arrows ringing through the gorge was joined by
the fierce bark of One-eye as they sprang forward. An older warrior
might have waited to know the effect of that fall before he interfered
between a cougar and his game, but Two Arrows did not think of
hesitation. It was just as well. What between the blow of the cougar and
the force of the fall, the big-horn was dead. He had somewhat broken the
effect of the terrible shock upon his enemy by falling under him, but
even the tough body of the great "cat o' mountain" had not been made for
such plunges, and he lay on the rock stunned and temporarily disabled.
Whether it would, after all, have killed him, he was never to know, for,
just as he was staggering to his feet, a Nez Perce Indian boy charged
upon him with a long lance, while a large and ambitious dog rushed in
and seized him by the throat. He was taken at an advantage.

Thrust, thrust, thrust, in fiercely rapid succession, came the keen
blade of the lance, and One-eye bore down and throttled a brute that
could have killed four such dogs in anything like a fair fight.

It was tremendous hunting for a boy of fifteen. A cougar to bring down
his antelope for him, and a precipice to help him kill his cougar,