Frank tried a shot at a condor one day, but the bird flew away unharmed. After his excitement was over the youth wondered what he would have done with his prize if the shot had been successful. An Indian offered to capture one alive for a couple of dollars; Frank declined the proposal, but gave the man a small present to tell how it was done. "Easy enough," was the reply, "I should watch near a cattle estate for the first dead ox, and immediately build a pen around him. The condor cannot rise from the ground without running a short distance to get a headway, and this is the reason why I make the pen. "When my pen is done I go away. The condors come down to eat the flesh of the ox, and when they have gorged themselves full I come around again. They cannot fly because they are so filled with food, and, besides, they cannot get the short run they want to rise in the air, because they are in the pen. I throw a lasso around one of them; he fights; I throw another lasso and another; he tires himself out fighting; then I tie more ropes around him, put him in a cage, cut the ropes, and you have him safe for two dollars." Frank thought he would like a condor's egg, and would pay a good price for it. He was told that few persons had ever seen an egg of the condor, partly for the reason that the nests of this bird are built on high cliffs, almost if not quite inaccessible, and partly because the Indians have a superstitious fear of going in search of them. And besides their superstition there is the dread of the bird itself, which will fight in defence of its nest, and is a match for a full-grown man, unless his assailant is armed with a gun. It is no easy matter to shoot a condor, as the skin is very tough and protected by a dense mass of feathers. [Illustration: PUMA, COUGAR, OR AMERICAN LION.] They looked for wild vicunas among the mountains, but saw none. Manuel said there were lions farther down, and when they descended below the timber line he pointed out some tracks which he declared were made by that beast. The lion is better described as the puma, or cougar, and it has a range from the lowlands up to an elevation of ten or twelve thousand feet. It is not a courageous animal, and will flee from danger if it has the opportunity. [Illustration: CAPYBARA.]