"
"Lions?" asked Tad.
"I reckon."
"Have you seen any signs of them?"
"What you might call a sign," Nance nodded. "I found, up in Mystic
Canyon this afternoon, all that was left of a deer. The lions had
killed it and stripped all the best flesh from the deer. So it's plain
enough that the cats are hanging around. I thought we'd come up with
some of them down here."
"Wow for the king of beasts!" shouted Chunky, throwing up his sombrero.
"Nothing like a king," retorted Jim Nance. "The mountain lion isn't
in any class with African lions. The lion hereabouts is only a part
as big. A king---this mountain lion of ours? You'd better call the
beast a dirty savage, and be satisfied with that."
"But we're going to go after some of them, aren't we?" asked Ned.
"Surely," nodded Nance.
"When?" pressed Walter.
"Is it safe?" the more prudent Professor Zepplin wanted to know.
"Safe?" repeated Jim Nance. "Well, when it comes to that, nothing down
in this country can be called exactly safe. All sorts of trouble can
be had around here for the asking. But I reckon that these young
gentlemen will know pretty well how to keep themselves reasonably
safe---all except Mr. Brown, who'll bear some watching."
Even long after they had turned in that night the boys kept on talking
about the coming hunts of the next few days.
Pages:
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133