The ponies were quickly secured, after which the boys crouched in the brush and sought out the lion again.  He was still in the same place, but was now standing erect, head toward them, well raised as if in a listening attitude.

“My, isn’t he a fine one!” whispered Walt.  Walter Perkins was not suffering from the same complaint that Chunky had caught when he first saw his lion over in the other canyon, an offshoot from the Bright Angel Canyon, and where he had lost his rifle so mysteriously.

“Take careful aim; then, when he turns his side toward us, let him have it,” directed Tad.

“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.”