ROPING LIONS

Evening Star, Issue 18809, 6 December 1924, Page 15

ROPING LIONS

' EXCITEMENT IN THE GRAND CANYON. Crashing through dry cedars, baying fa deep tones, went the pack of hunting docs. With thudding hoofs, accompanied by wild yells, went the horses that carried Zane Grey and his guide, Buffalo Jones and the entire party on their great expedition to hunt mountain lions m the Grand Canyon of Arizona- Not only to hunt them, but to capture them alive by roping the savage animals and carrying them to camp to photograph. A lion was sighted, and tho dogs went wild with excitement, howling and running m circles That was a sure sign that the lion had gone up in a tree somewhere, and Zane Grey tells in his hook Roping Lions in the Grand Canyon that ho soon saw him curled up like a round yellow ball in among the dark branches. “Are you afraid?” called the guide. “Yes,” answered Grey; 1 but I am coraThe lion, Jones warned, was a Tom two years old, and full of fight, arid very ’dang-erous. Jones started as if to climb the tree, so that the-lion would descend, and Zano Grey then relates what excitement followed :

“ I’ve got to pull him out. _ Watch close, hoys, and tell me if tho lion, starts Jones climbed the first few branches of the tree Tom let out an ominous growl. , “Make ready to jump. Shore lies cornin’,” called Jim. The lion, snarling viciously, started to descend. It was a ticklish moment for all of us, particularly Jones. Wanly he backed down. ~ ~ ~ “ Boys maybe he’s bluffing, said Jones. “Try him out. Grab sticks and run at the tree and yell, as if you were going to kill him.” Not improbably the demonstration we executed under "tie tree would have flightened even an African lion. lorn hesitated, showed his white fangs, returned to his first perch, and from there climbed as far as he could. The forked branch on which he stood swayed alarmingly. ~, ~ T . “Here, punch Mozo out, said Jim, handing up a long pole. Tho old hound hung like a leech to the tree, making it difficult to dislodge him. At length he fell heavily, and, venting his thick battle-cry, attempted to climb Jim seized him, made him fast to the rope with which Sounder had already been

tiled. , , „ gay, Emett, Ive no chance here, called Jones. "You try to throw at him from the reck." Emett ran up the rock, coded his lasso and cast the noose. It sailed perfectly in between the branches and circled Tom’s head. Before it could be slipped tight he had thrown it off. Then he hid behind the branches. “ I’m going farther up, said Jones. “Bo quick,” yelled Jim. Jones evidently had 'that in mind. When he reached the middle fork of tho cedar, ho stood erect and extended the noose’ of his lasso on tho point of his pole. Tom, with a hiss and snap, struck at it savagely. The second trial tempted the lion to saw the rope with his teeth. In a flash Jones withdrew the pole, and lifted a loop of the slack rope over the lion’s cars.

“Pull!” lie yelled. Ernctt, at tho other end of tho lasso, threw his great strength into action, pulling tho lion out with a crash, and giving the cedar such a tremendous shaking_ that Jones lost his footing and fell heavily. Thrilling as the moment was, I had to laugh, for Jones came up out of a cloud of dust, as angry as a wet and made prodigious leaps to get out of the reach of the whirling lion. “Look out!” ho bawled.

Tom, certainly none the worse for his tumble, made three leaps, two at Jones, one at Jim, which was checked by the short length of the rope in Kmett’s hands. Then for a moment a thick cloud of dust enveloped the wrestling lion, during which tho. quick-witted Jones tied the free end of the lasso to a sapling. “ Dod gast the luck!” yelled Jones, reaching for another lassoo. "I didn’t mean for you to pull him out of the tree. Now he’ll get loose or kill himself.” When the dust- cleared away we discovered our prize stretched out at full length, and frothing at the mouth. As Jones approached, tiic lion began a series of evolutions so rapid as to be almost mdisccruable to the eye. I saw a wheel of dust and yellow inr. Then came a thud, and the lion lay inert, Jones pounced upon him, and loosed the lasso around his neck.

“ I think he's done for, but maybe not. He’s breathing yet. Here, help mo tie his paws together. Look out! He’s coming to! ” Tire lion stirred, and raised his head. Jones ran the loop of the second lasso around tho two hind paws and stretched the lion out. While in this helpless position and with no strength and hardly any breath left in him the lion was easy to handle. With Emett’s help Jones quickly clipped the sharp claws, tied tho four paws together, took ot! the neck lasso, and substituted a collar and chain. Almost as soon as Zane Urey and Jones had tied up one lion they heard a'chorus fiom tho dogs which told of another lion tieed. The forest was deep and difficult to break through, but tho men forged ahead, and, in tho dead top of a tree, they saw another lion, a- dark spot against tho blue of the sky. Then came tho exciting business of tying this tawny brute. Zano Grey had what ho fdt was a useful plan, and he proceeded to put it into action, as ho tells us:

“ Quick as the idea flashed over mo I leapt into the cedar adjourning the one Jones was in, and went up hand over hand. A few pulls brought me to the top, and ,'theji my blood ran hot and quick, for I was level with the lion, too close for comfort, but in excellent position for taking pictures. The Hon, not heeding me, peered down at Jones, between widespread paws. I could hear nothing except tho hounds. Jones’s grey hat came pushing up between the dead snags; then his burly shoulders. Tho quivering muscles of the lion gathered tense, and ■ his lithe body crouched low on the branches. He was about to jump. His open dripping jaws, his wild eyes, roving in terror for some, means of escape, his tufted tail, swinging against tho twigs and breaking them, manifested his extremity. The eager hounds waited below, howling, leaping. | “ It bothered me considerably to keep my balance, regulate my camera, and watch the proceedings. Jones climbed on with his rope between his teeth, and a I long stick. The very next instant, it, seemed to me, I heard the crackling of branches and saw tho lion biting hard at the noose which circled his neck. “ Here I swung down branch to branch, I and dropped to the ground, for I wanted I to see what went on below. Above tho howls and yelps I distinguished Jones’s yell. Emctt van directly under the lion ; with a spread noose in his hands. Jones pulled and pulled, but the lion held on firmly. Throwing tho end of fie lasso down to Jim, Jones yelled again, and then they both pulled. The lion was too strong. Suddenly, however, the branch , broke, letting the lion fall, kicking franI tically with all four paws. Emett grasped I one of the four whipping paws, and even ' as the powerful animal sent him staggering he dexterously left the noose fast on tho paw. Jim and Jones in unison let go of their lasso, which streaked up ! through the branches as the lion fell, and | then it dropped to tho ground, where Jim : made a flving grab for it. Jones, plunging out ot the tree, fell upon the rope at the same instant. “ If the action up to then had been fast, it was slow to what followed. It seemed impossible for two strong men with one lasso, and a giant with another, to straighten out that lion. He was all over the little space under the trees at once. The dust flew, the slicks snapped, the gravel pattered like shot against the cedars. Jones ploughed the ground flat pn his stomach* holding qq with one hand.

■with the other trying to fasten the rope to something; Jim went to his knees; and on the other side of tho lion, Emett’s huge bulk tipped a sharp angle, and then fell. , “ I shouted and ran forward, having no idea what to do, but Emett rolled backward at the same instant the other men got a strong haul on the lion. Short as that moment was in which the lasso slackened, it sufficed for Jones to make the rope fast to a tree. Whereupon with the three men pulling on the other side of tho leaping lion, somehow I had flashed into my mind the game that children play, culled skipping the rope, for the lion and lasso shot up and down. “ This lasted for only n few seconds. They stretched the beast from tree to tree, and Jones, running with the third lasso, made fast the front paws. “ ‘ It’s a female,’ said Jones, as the lion lay helpless, her sides swelling; ‘a goodsized female. She’s nearly Bft from tip to tip, but not very heavy. Hand mo another rope.’ “ When all four lassos had been stretched, .the lioness could not move. Jones strapped a collar around her neck and clipped the sharp yellow claws.”