located by the hounds in a large pinyon on the
side of a hill. It had run a long distance and was evidently out of
breath, but as the hunters drew closer, it leaped to the ground and
trotted away through the snow. Away went the hounds on the new trail of
the beast.

"He's game, and he'll get away if he can," said the guide.

At the top of another hill the cougar halted and one of the hounds
leaped in, and was immediately sent sprawling by a savage blow of the
wild animal's paw. Then on went the cougar as before, the hounds barking
wildly as they went in pursuit.

When Theodore Roosevelt came up once more, the cougar was in another
pinyon tree, with the hounds in a semicircle on the ground below.

"Now I think I've got him," whispered Theodore Roosevelt to his
companion, and advanced on foot, with great cautiousness. At first he
could see nothing, but at last made out the back and tail of the great
beast, as it lay crouched among the branches. With great care he took
aim and fired, and the cougar fell to the ground, shot through the back.

At once the hounds rushed in and seized the game. But the cougar was not
yet dead, and snapping and snarling the beast slipped over the ground
and down a hillside, with the dogs all around it. Theodore Roosevelt
came up behind, working his way through the brush with all speed. Then,
watching his chance, he jumped in, hunting-knife in hand, and despatched
the game.

"A good haul," cried Goff. And later on he and his men came to the
conclusion that it was the same cougar that had carried off a cow and a
steer and killed a work horse belonging to one of the ranches near by.

The five weeks spent in the far West strengthened Theodore Roosevelt a
great deal, and it was with renewed energy that he took up his duties as
Vice-President of our nation.

In the meantime, however, matters were not going on so well at home.
Among the children two had been very sick, and in the summer it was
suggested that some pure mountain air would do them a great deal of
good.

"Very well, we'll go to the mountains," said Mr. Roosevelt, and looked
around to learn what place would be best to choose.

Among the Adirondack Mountains of New York State there is a reservation
of ninety-six thousand acres leased by what is called the Adirondack
Club, a wealthy organization of people who have numerous summer
cottages built within the preserve.

Among the members was a Mr. McNaughten, an old friend of the R