In the Pecos Country

 CHAPTER XXIII. A PERILOUS PASSAGE

Fred Munson was right.  In his efforts to regain the pass by which he had entered the mountains, he had gone astray, and he knew no more in what direction to turn than if he had dropped from the moon.  The sun was now well up above the horizon, and he not only had the mortification of feeling that he had lost much precious time, but that he was likely to lose much more.

With the feeling of disappointment came that of hunger, and he questioned himself as to how he was likely to obtain that with which to stave off the pangs of hunger.

"There isn't any use of staying here," he exclaimed, desperately, "unless I want to lie down and die, and I ain't quite ready for that yet.  It is pretty sure the ravine ain't straight ahead, so it must be more to one side."

And, acting upon this conclusion, he made quite a change in the direction he was pursuing, moving off to the left, and encouraging himself with the fact that the pass must be somewhere, and he had only to persevere in exploring each point of the compass to reach it at last.  His route continued as precipitous and difficult as before, and it was not long before the plague of thirst became greater than that of hunger.  But he persevered, hopeful that his wearisome wandering would soon end.

"Halloa!  Here I am again."

This exclamation was caused by the sudden arrival upon the edge of a ravine, which, on first thought, he supposed to be the very one for which he was making.  But a second glance convinced him of his error, for it was nothing more than a yawn, or chasm, that had probably been opened in the mountains by some great convulsion of nature.

Making his way carefully to the edge, Fred saw that it had a varying depth of fifty to two hundred feet, and a width from a dozen yards to three times as much, its length seemingly too great to be "gone round" by an ordinary traveler.  And yet, finding himself confronted by such a chasm, it was perhaps natural that the lad should become more fully pursuaded than ever of the absolute necessity of placing himself upon the opposite side.  The more he thought upon it the more convinced did he become, until his disire of passing over became a wild sort of eagerness that would not let him rest.

"I don't believe the pass is more than a hundred yards from the other side, and the two must run nearly parallel, so I am bound to get over in some way."

In the hope that some narrow portion might be found, he made his way with great care along the margin, until fully an hour had been spent in this manner, with a result that could not be called very satisfactory.

"If I could jump about three times as far as I can, I could go across right yonder--helloa! why did n't I notice that before?"

And the words were yet in his mouth, when he started on a run along the margin of the ravine, at the imminent risk of falling in and breaking his neck.  He had espied not only a narrower portion of the ravine, but what seemed to be a fallen tree extending from one side to the other.

If such were really the case, what more could he need?  He had thought over this matter of the pass being upon the other side, until no doubt at all remained in his mind, and now the discovery that the chasm was bridged caused the strongest rebound from discouragement to hope.

Upon reaching the bridge, he found that it answered his purpose admirably.  The width was less than ten yards, although the depth was enough to make him shudder, when he peered down into it.

He flung a stone, and, as it went spinning downward, it seemed to him that many seconds elapsed before it struck the bottom with a dull thud.

But the tree seemed strong enough to answer every purpose, and capable of bearing a weight much greater than his.

The trunk at the largest part was fully a foot in diameter, and the top extended far enough over the opposite edge to prevent any weakness from the thinning out of the branches.

But what astonished Fred more than anything else, was the discovery that the tree had been felled not, by nature, but by man.  The trunk had been cut through, clearly and evenly, by some sharp instrument, and beyond question had been used as a bridge before.

"Somebody has been here ahead of me," reflected the lad, as he examined this interesting evidence, "and I don't believe it was an Indian, either.  I don't know what could bring a party into this part of the world, but they have been here surely, and if the bridge was good enough for them, it will do for me."

He was quite certain that he could walk over, after the fashion of Blondin, but it would have been foolhardy in the highest degree, and he adopted the wiser course of putting himself astride of the trunk, and hitching along a few inches at a time.  His rifle interfered somewhat, but he kept up his progress, pausing a few seconds at the centre of the chasm to look down at the bottom far below him.

"Suppose the tree should break," he exclaimed, in a frightened whisper, "it would be the last of a fellow!  No one could drop down there, and save his neck without a parachute.  I guess the best thing I can do is to get over as soon as I know how--"

At this juncture, as he was on the point of resuming his onward progress, he noticed a peculiar jar of the log, accompanied by a scratching.  Mis first impression was that it came from behind, but, upon turning his head, could see nothing.  When, however, he looked forward, the terrible explanation at once appeared.

The head or top of the tree was unusually bushy and luxuriant, and, although a considerable time had elapsed since it had been felled, yet there were a great many leaves clinging to the branches--not enough to afford concealment to any animal fleeing from a hunter.  Then Fred first looked in that direction, he failed to see that one of the most dangerous animals of the Southwest was crouching there.

As he looked inquiringly ahead now, he observed a huge American cougar, larger than that of the night before, issuing from among the branches.  With his phosphorescent eyes fixed upon the terrified lad, he was stealing slowly along the log, giving utterance to a deep guttural growl, separating his lips as he did so, so as to show his long, white, needle-like teeth, intended for the rending of flesh.

For a moment Fred was transfixed at the sight.

The cougar clearly meant fight, and assumed the offensive without a second's hesitancy.  He seemed to have been crouching in the bushes, and calmly awaited the time when the boy should advance too far to retreat.

"I guess I'd better go back!" exclaimed the latter, recovering himself, and beginning his retrograde movement; but a few hitches showed that he could not escape the cougar in this fashion, if he really meant business, and it looked very much as if he did.

The beast had already left the other side, and, like his intended victim, was supported over the chasm by the tree.  He had advanced beyond the fork made by the junction of the lowermost branches with the main stem, and was stealing along with an appearance of excessive caution, but really with the certainty of a brute who feels that there is no escape for his prey.  He moved slowly, burying his long, sharp claws so deeply in the bark at each step, that his feet seemed to stick as he lifted them again.  All the time his large, round eyes, which had a greenish glare like those of a cat, were never removed from the face of the lad, and the guttural growl that came from the lowermost depths of his chest was like the muttering of distant thunder.

It was not until about a dozen feet separated the two that Fred recalled that his case was not so desperate as he had imagined.  He held a loaded rifle at his command, and the distance was too short for any mistake to be made in the aim.

"I guess I'll stop your fun!" was the exultant exclamation of the lad, as he brought his rifle to his shoulder.  "I don't like to throw away a shot on you, but I don't see how it can be helped."

He sighted directly between the eyes.  His hand shook a little, and the weapon was heavy, but it was impossible that he should miss.

The cougar continued his slow, cautious advance, apparently unaware or uncaring for the deadly weapon aimed at him.

The distance was very slight between the two when the trigger was pulled, and the heavy bullet, tearing its way through bone and muscle, buried itself in the brain, extinguishing life with the suddenness almost of the lightning stroke.  The guttural growl wound up with something like a hoarse yelp, and the cougar made what might be termed his death-leap.

The bound was a tremendous one, carrying him clear up over the head of the lad, who crouched down in affright, expecting him to drop upon his shoulders; but he passed far beyond, dropping upon the trunk of the tree, which he clutched and clawed in his blind, frantic way, without saving himself in the least, and down he went.

Fred was held with a sort of fascination,...