The horses reached the top of the slope and Polly guided Noddy across
the rough place to the cliff, where the fight had taken place.
Here she sought for some track or sign of the fight, but saw only a few
small spots of red in the white snow.
Eleanor tried to make her burro follow after Noddy, but he was
fractious and would not go near the cliff. He made a detour, however,
about a small group of trees and just as he came opposite them,
something upon the snow-drift at the base of the largest tree, caused
him to shy violently.
"Oh, girls! Run! Come here and see what's here," cried Eleanor,
excitedly, jumping from her burro but remembering to hold the bridle.
The burro backed and refused to go nearer the thing, but Polly rode
Noddy over and saw that Eleanor had discovered one of the victims of
the fight.
"Ha! I thought so!" said Polly, with satisfaction.
Noddy was left to watch from a comfortable vantage point, while her
mistress ran up to the large panther which was stretched out at the
foot of the tree. He had tried to climb it in order to escape the
grizzly's claws.
"Isn't he a massive beast!" cried Anne, watching from her horse some
distance away.
"You girls come back! He may not be dead!" shrieked Barbara, the moment
she saw the animal.
"Say, Bob, if he wasn't dead, he'd have had me down long before you
came along to warn us!" laughed Eleanor.
"Polly, he's a beauty, even if he is such a terror, isn't he?" said
Eleanor, admiring the satiny coat and beautiful form of the large
mountain-lion, so majestic in death.
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