Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar Page #4

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And he didn't want to miss out on that.

Now in just about two more jumps,

Blackie was gonna pick up

the scent of cat with a capital C.

Well, that's how Charlie

hit the lonesome trail for good.

Only, it wasn't so good.

He was lost and hungry, and he'd

never learned to provide for himself.

The days kept going by

and so far he hadn't even learned

how to read the forest menu.

In a showdown fight, a raccoon

can give away a lot of weight

and still come out on top.

But whenever he sees really big trouble

coming, it only makes sense to run from it.

When the raccoon

finally ran out of running room,

Charlie figured he had him cornered.

But as it turned out, this was no place

for a cougar to throw his weight around.

That feisty little rascal

had Charlie all washed up.

What he wanted now

was to get wrung out and holler "Quits".

The raccoon's answer to that was,

"OK, buster,

but if you ever want any more of the same,

come on back... anytime. "

Well, Mother Nature

finally decided to come to the aid

of this underprivileged cougar.

He was gonna get a little lesson

in self-help through visual education.

When the lynx saw he had a backward

pupil bent on promoting himself,

seemed a mighty good idea to close the

kindergarten and declare a long recess.

That gave Charlie an open chance

at the cafeteria.

At first, Charlie couldn't catch one mouse

in a whole meadowful.

Persistence finally paid off.

But since he could only get

one ounce to the pounce,

it took all afternoon before Charlie's

need for food was finally satisfied.

Well, the days turned into weeks

and the summer passed.

By autumn, Charlie had learned

to hunt all kinds of small game.

But a cougar is born to play a bigger part

in keeping nature's balance.

A deer is the natural prey of a king cat.

His timing was perfect,

but this was one kill he would never make.

For now he became the hunted.

Charlie's time was fast running out.

But right now things

were gonna start looking up again.

It happened when Charlie found

this log flume,

and got himself treed

on the left-bank plank.

Although Charlie was giving

a good account of himself,

he had a notion

he ought to find some way out of here.

Well, it better be quick.

The dogs weren't leaving,

and the hunter was closing in.

So, right in the nick of time,

Charlie set sail for parts unknown.

Now, ridin' the bark

was an old story to Charlie,

but he'd never tried it

on a homemade creek before.

Oh, he'd have howled a whole lot louder

if he'd known what lay ahead.

Well, that log had covered

about nine miles of flume,

and it still had three to go

before it hit the river.

But for Charlie,

the end was already in sight.

Ooh-ow!

Out of Charlie's giddy adventure,

there was a strange development.

Sometime, somewhere,

he'd seen this same flume before.

He aimed to check out the whole vicinity.

Just as soon as he got his land legs again.

From daylight, far into the dark,

Charlie had been following a river

that seemed to get

more and more familiar.

Mile after mile, hour after hour,

he kept plodding on,

heading for some distant,

half-remembered place.

That place was

the Carbon County Lumber Mill.

The operation here was always shut

down to an idle at night.

And on the stroke of 12,

Charlie was just bridging the last gap

in his own memory lane.

Now there was a place

no hungry cougar could ever forget.

At Potlatch's Bean Pot Caf,

Charlie had always done his mooching

at the back door.

But tonight he couldn't get an answer.

So he headed around front.

Then that unforgettable restaurant scent

stopped him short.

It was coming from... where?

Whoop... Back there.

Nope, up there.

This was a place of plenty all right,

but it was all unavailable

to a cougar without a can opener.

Now there was one small exception.

This little device

had been set for mice...

but it sure trapped one king-sized cat.

Charlie wanted out.

He was more wild than tame now.

And he had a wild animal's

fear and hatred of confinement.

For the first time in his life,

Charlie was a very dangerous cougar.

Next morning started out just like any

other morning for Potlatch and Chainsaw.

But right about now, that Bean Pot

was a real explosive can of peas.

And the one thing it didn't need

was opening.

What's the matter, Chainsaw?

You on a trail or something?

Chainsaw!

Shut up!

- Hello, Potlatch.

- Smokey. Henry.

- How's the coffee?

- It should be hot. Help yourself.

Chainsaw, will you shut up!

What's the matter with that mutt, Potlatch?

Chainsaw, be quiet!

Chainsaw, will you shut up?

Chainsaw.

Chainsaw, will you knock it off?

What's wrong with you?

There's nothing in there.

- Was that Charlie?

- I didn't ask him.

- He went for me! Came right at me!

- Let's get him!

- Let's get him before he hurts somebody.

- How'd he get in there?

- Stop him! That's a cougar!

- He's going into the yard!

Hurry, he's got Chainsaw!

No, he's OK.

Here he comes!

Look at the size of that cat!

Missed him.

Hey, look out over there!

Cougar! Wild cougar!

Hey, get some help!

Everybody, look out!

There's a cougar loose!

Get him, Smokey!

Get back, Jim!

It's a cougar!

Cougar! Cougar!

Let's get out of here!

There's a cougar loose!

Cougar!

Go round the other way!

Maybe he went high.

Watch out overhead.

Hey, over here!

There he goes!

Nail him, Jack!

Up there!

He's cornered now.

- I betcha he's Charlie!

- Are you kidding? Charlie?

He's headed for the elevator.

- We need a gun!

- That way, let's go! Hurry up!

Hey!

Hurry, there's a cougar on the elevator!

Right there!

Let me handle this, Smokey.

Hey, guys, give me some room.

Wait a minute! Hold it! Hold it!

Wait a minute! Wait a minute!

Charlie?

Charlie.

Cliff, that's Charlie.

Maybe so, Jess,

but he's gone bad.

- No, no. Let me handle this.

- OK, it's your hide.

OK. OK, Charlie.

OK, take it easy now, boy.

Slim, let me down on that rope.

I'm gonna try to...

calm him down first.

Then I'll take him out of here.

You guys, just back up a little, huh?

Sure that's Charlie there?

It's gonna be OK, Charlie.

No problems, boy.

OK, now, Charlie.

Take it easy now, boy.

OK, let me down a little.

OK, easy does it, Charlie.

Relax now, Charlie.

Take it easy now.

Easy now.

Don't let me down now.

Throw me down that rope. Easy.

OK, Charlie.

It's all right, Charlie.

It's OK, boy.

Stand still now, please.

All right, Charlie.

It's OK, boy.

You're all right, feller.

It's OK.

Remember me? Huh?

Come on now, boy.

Come on!

It's me.

Take it easy now, Charlie.

That's a boy.

It's all right.

It's OK.

It's old home week, buddy.

Come on, easy now.

Get those ears up.

OK, Charlie.

That's a boy.

- All right, Jess.

- Look at that, will ya?

- Be careful.

- It's Jess's cat, all right.

OK, Charlie-boy.

OK, bring us up.

- Bring 'em up.

- Give 'em plenty of room, there.

It was early the next day that Charlie

took his last ride with Jess Bradley.

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