"Oh, no, you discovered him. He is your game. You shoot, Tad."
Butler shook his head.
"I want you to shoot. I have already killed a cougar. This is your chance to distinguish yourself."
Walter"s eyes sparkled. He raised his rifle, leveling it through the crotch of a small tree.
"Wait till he turns," whispered Tad, fingering his own rifle anxiously.
He could hardly resist the temptation to take a shot at the animal where it stood facing them far up the side of the canyon wall.
"Now!" Tad"s tone was calm, steady and low.
Walter"s rifle barked.
"You"ve hit him!" yelled Tad. "Look out! He"s up again!" warned the boy.
The beast had not been killed by the shot. He had been bowled over, dropping down to a lower crag, where he sprang to his feet and with a roar of rage bounded up the mountainside.
"Shoot! Shoot!" cried Butler.
But Walter did not even raise his rifle. A sudden fit of trembling had taken possession of him. His was the "buck fever" in another form.
Bang!
Butler had let go a quick shot.
A roar followed the shot.
"Bang!"
"There, I guess that settled him," decided Tad Butler, lowering his rifle.
"I---I should say it did," gasped Walter.
The tawny beast was throwing himself this way and that, the boys meanwhile watching him anxiously.
"I"m afraid he"s going to stick up there," cried Walter, dancing about shouting excitedly.
"No, he isn"t. There he comes."
"Hurray!"
"Duck!"
Tad grabbed his companion, jerking the latter back and running with him.
They were just at the spot where the ponies had been tethered, when a heavy body struck the ground not far from where they had been standing.
Silver Face leaped right up into the air, then settled back on his haunches in an attempt to break the hitching rope.
Tad struck the animal against the flank with the flat of his hand, whereat the mustang bounded to his feet.
"Whoa, you silly old animal!" cried Tad. "Look out, Walt, don"t get too near that lion. You may lose some of your clothes if he shouldn"t happen to be dead. I"ll be there in a moment, as soon as I can get these horses quieted down."
In a moment Tad was running toward his companion.
"Is he settled?"
"I don"t know. His---his eyes are open," stammered Walter, standing off a safe distance from the prostrate beast.
Tad poked the animal with the muzzle of his rifle.
"Yes, he"s a dead one. One less brute to make war on the deer. Won"t old Dad be surprised when we trail into camp with this big game?"
exulted the Pony Rider boy.
"Yes, but---but how are we going to get the fellow there?" wondered Walter.
"Get him there? Well, I guess we"ll do it somehow. I"ll tell you what, I"ll take him over the saddle in front of me. That"s the idea.
You bring out Silver Face and we"ll see how he feels about it. I wouldn"t be surprised if he raised a row."
Silver Face did object most emphatically. The instant the pony came in sight of the dead lion he sat down on his haunches. Tad urged and threatened, but not another inch would the pinto budge.
"I guess I know how to fix you," gritted the boy.
He was on the back of the sitting mustang, his feet in the stirrups, before the pony realized what had happened. A reasonably sharp rowel, pressed into the pinto"s side, brought him a good two feet clear of the ground.
Then began a lively battle between the boy and the horse.
"Don"t let him tread on the beast," shouted Walter.
"N-n-no danger of that," stammered Tad. It was a lively battle while it lasted, but Silver Face realized, as he had never done before, that he had met his master. After some twenty minutes of fight, in which the pinto made numerous futile attempts to climb the sheer side of the canyon at the imminent danger of toppling over backwards and crushing his master, the brute gave up.
"Now you hold him while I load on the beast," directed Tad, riding up.
This called for more disturbance. Silver Face fought against taking a lion on his back. He drew the line at that. Just the same, after another lively scrimmage, Mr. Lion was loaded on, but no sooner had Tad swung into the saddle than he swung out again. He hadn"t even time to get his toes in the stirrups before he was flying through the air, head first. Walter had difficulty in determining which was boy and which was lion. The lion struck the ground first, Tad landing on top of him.
With rare presence of mind, Walter had seized the pinto and was having a lively set-to with the beast, with the odds in favor of Silver Face, when Tad sprang up and ran to his companion"s a.s.sistance.
Tad"s temper was up. The way he grilled Silver Face that animal perhaps never forgot. Not that Tad abused his mount. He never would be guilty of abusing a horse. He was too fond of horseflesh to do such a thing, but he knew how to punish an animal in other and more effective ways. Silver Face was punished.
"Now, my fine fellow, let"s see who"s boss here!" laughed Tad. "Hold him while I put aboard the baggage, Walt."
The pony submitted to the ordeal a second time. This time there was no bucking, and shortly afterwards the lads started for their companions bearing the trophy of their hunt with them.
CHAPTER XVI
A NEW WAY TO HUNT LIONS