wind. I caught a confused glimpse of a whirling wheel
of fur, rolling down the slide.

Then Jones and Frank were pounding me, and yelling I know not what.
From far above came floating down a long "Waa-hoo!" I saw Wallace
silhouetted against the blue sky. I felt the hot barrel of my rifle,
and shuddered at the bloody stones below me--then, and then only, did I
realize, with weakening legs, that Old Tom had jumped at me, and had
jumped to his death.

CHAPTER 13.

SINGING CLIFFS

Old Tom had rolled two hundred yards down the canyon, leaving a red
trail and bits of fur behind him. When I had clambered down to the
steep slide where he had lodged, Sounder and Jude had just decided he
was no longer worth biting, and were wagging their tails. Frank was
shaking his head, and Jones, standing above the lion, lasso in hand,
wore a disconsolate face.

"How I wish I had got the rope on him!"

"I reckon we'd be gatherin' up the pieces of you if you had," said
Frank, dryly.

We skinned the old king on the rocky slope of his mighty throne, and
then, beginning to feel the effects of severe exertion, we cut across
the slope for the foot of the break. Once there, we gazed up in
disarray. That break resembled a walk of life--how easy to slip down,
how hard to climb! Even Frank, inured as he was to strenuous toil,
began to swear and wipe his sweaty brow before we had made one-tenth of
the ascent. It was particularly exasperating, not to mention the danger
of it, to work a few feet up a slide, and then feel it start to move.
We had to climb in single file, which jeopardized the safety of those
behind the leader. Sometimes we were all sliding at once, like boys on
a pond, with the difference that we were in danger. Frank forged ahead,
turning to yell now and then for us to dodge a cracking stone. Faithful
old Jude could not get up in some places, so laying aside my rifle, I
carried her, and returned for the weapon. It became necessary,
presently, to hide behind cliff projections to escape the avalanches
started by Frank, and to wait till he had surmounted the break. Jones
gave out completely several times, saying the exertion affected his
heart. What with my rifle, my camera and Jude, I could offer him no
assistance, and was really in need of that myself. When it seemed as if
one more step would kill us, we reached the rim, and fell panting with
labored chests and dripping skins. We could not speak. Jones had worn a
pair of ordin