for the last time made the canon reverberate with his deep bass roar, a call for help, the muster call of his band.  But there was none to answer him, and, left alone in his extremity, he whirled about with all his strength and made a desperate effort to get at me.  All in vain, each trap was a dead drag of over three hundred pounds, and in their relentless fourfold grasp, with great steel jaws on every foot, and the heavy logs and chains all entangled together, he was absolutely powerless.  How his huge ivory tusks did grind on those cruel chains, and when I ventured to touch him with my rifle-barrel he left grooves on it which are there to this day.  His eyes glared green with hate and fury, and his jaws snapped with a hollow ‘chop,’ as he vainly endeavored to reach me and my trembling horse.  But he was worn out with hunger and struggling and loss of blood, and he soon sank exhausted to the ground.

Something like compunction came over me, as I prepared to deal out to him that which so many had suffered at his hands.

“Grand old outlaw, hero of a thousand lawless raids, in a few minutes you will be but a great load of carrion.  It cannot be otherwise.”  Then I swung my lasso and sent it whistling over his head.  But not so fast; he was yet far from being subdued, and, before the supple coils had fallen on his neck he seized the noose and, with one fierce chop, cut through its hard thick strands, and dropped it in two pieces at his feet.

Of course I had my rifle as a last resource, but I did not wish to spoil his royal hide, so I galloped back to the camp and returned with a cowboy and a fresh lasso.  We threw to our victim a stick of wood which he seized in his teeth, and before he could relinquish it our lassoes whistled through the air and tightened on his neck.

Yet before the light had died from his fierce eyes, I cried, “Stay, we will not kill him; let us take him alive to the camp.”  He was so completely powerless now that it was easy to put a stout stick through his mouth, behind his tusks, and then lash his jaws with a heavy cord which was also fastened to the stick.  The stick kept the cord in, and the cord kept the stick in, so he was harmless.  As soon as he felt his jaws were tied he made no further resistance, and uttered no sound, but looked calmly at us and seemed to say, “Well, you have got me at last, do as you please with me.”  And from that time he took no more notice of us.

We tied his feet securely, but he never groaned, nor growled, nor turned his head.  Then with our united strength we were just able to put him on my horse.  His breath came evenly as though sleeping, and his eyes were bright and clear again, but did not rest on us.  Afar on the great rolling mesas they were fixed, his passing kingdom, where his famous band was now scattered.  And he gazed till the pony descended the pathway into the canon, and the rocks cut off the view.