ho had been backing himself for a
rush, suddenly disappear over the edge of the cliff! They thought he
had tumbled over--as his legs were the last of him they had seen--but
they had no time to speculate upon the matter, as both pulled trigger at
the moment. Two of the animals were laid prostrate by their fire; while
the rest bounded off, ran out to a point of the table, and there halted.

Basil and Francois leaped to their feet, shouting for Lucien to be on
the alert: but, to their great surprise, the cimmarons, as if newly
terrified by their shouts, and finding their retreat cut off, sprang
over the precipice, disappearing instantly from view!

"They must be all killed," thought Basil and Francois; and, calling
Lucien to come up, all three ran to the point where the animals had
leaped off, and looked over. They could see the plain below, but no
big-horns! What had become of them?

"Yonder!" cried Francois; "yonder they go!" and he pointed far out upon
the prairie where several reddish-looking objects were seen flying like
the wind toward the far bluffs of the Llano Estacado. Lucien now
directed the eyes of his brothers to several ledge-like steps upon the
cliff, which, no doubt, the animals had made use of in their descent,
and had thus been enabled to reach the bottom in safety.

As soon as the cimmarons were out of sight, the hunters turned towards
the two that had been shot--both of which, a male and female, lay
stretched upon the grass and quite dead. The boys were about to
commence skinning them, when Basil and Francois remembered what they had
observed just before firing; and, curious to convince themselves whether
the big-horn had actually tumbled over the cliff by accident or leaped
off by design, they walked forward to the spot. On looking over the
edge, they saw a tree shaking violently below them, and among its
branches a large red body was visible. It was the cimmaron; and, to
their astonishment, they perceived that he was hanging suspended by one
of his huge horns, while his body and legs, kicking and struggling, hung
out at their full length in the empty air! It was evident he had
tumbled from the top contrary to his intentions; and had been caught
accidentally in the branches of the pine. It was a painful sight to
witness the efforts of the poor creature; but there was no means of
getting him off the tree, as he was far beyond their reach; and Basil,
having loaded his rifle, in order to put