In short the boys learned more in a few days from Jim than they could have picked up alone in a month. They were so enthusiastic that they would have sat up all night listening to their new teacher. As for riding, the lads improved very much as Jim showed them how to mount, how to sit, how to guide the horse by the mere pressure of the knees, and other tricks of which a "tenderfoot" never dreams. After supper, one evening, when the boys, Mr. Kent and Rattlesnake Jim were in the sitting room, a common resting place for all on the ranch, Jack asked: "Are there really mountain lions around here?" "There used to be," said Mr. Kent, "but I haven't seen any lately." "I heard some of the boys from the upper range say they heard 'em, a few nights ago," spoke Jim. "That ought to be looked into," said Mr. Kent. "They're nasty customers to get among a herd." "Can't we go hunting 'em?" asked Nat. "What do you know about hunting mountain lions?" asked his uncle. "They'd eat you up." "Not if we took Jim along," put in Jack. "I shot a lynx once," said John. "That's nothing like a mountain lion," Mr. Kent remarked. "Can't we go?" pleaded Nat. "I'll see about it," his uncle answered. He did see about it, with such good effect that, a few days later he called the boys in and showed them three fine rifles. "Can you shoot?" he asked. "A little," they replied, wondering what was coming. "Then take these and see if you and Jim can bag a few lions," Mr, Kent went on. "I hear they got a couple of calves last night. Now-- now--never mind thanking me," as the boys fairly stuttered their expressions of surprise and happiness. "Better see Jim and get ready." The boys lost no time in doing this. They found Jim almost as pleased as they were. The cowboy at once began preparing a camping outfit, and that night he announced they would start in the morning. "For how long?" asked Mr. Kent. "We'll make it four days, if the boys can stand it," Jim replied. The haunt of the lions was in a range of low foothills to the north of the range from which the herd had stampeded. It was planned to ride to the house where the cowboys in charge of that bunch of cattle lived, and there leave the horses. They would proceed on foot up into the hills, where the trails were so rough that horses were of little use. They camped that night at the ranch house, and the boys hardly wanted to go to bed when Jim and some of his acquaintances began to swap stories around the fire. "Better turn in," advised Jim, about ten o'clock. "Have to be up before sunrise, you know." The next morning they tramped for several miles, the country getting wilder and wilder as they proceeded. The trail was up now, for they had entered the region of the foothills. Beyond them lay the beginning of the Golden Glow mountain range. "That's where my father is," Jack thought "I hope I can soon find him."