“Probably, but let’s keep them both on a leash until we know for sure.”
Glenna nodded and headed to the passenger’s side of her truck. When she came back around, she led a Rhodesian ridgeback close by her side. Headlights made his burnished red coat shine, and Cole admired both his color and his athletic movement as the dog trotted around the front of the truck.
This boy was big, probably weighing in at eighty-five pounds, the upper range for a Rhodesian ridgeback male. The ridge of hair growing in the opposite direction along his spine for which the breed was named caught the light and stood out on his back. He wore an eager expression, and his black nose and dark muzzle contrasted with the red color of his coat. Cole decided he was a fine example of the breed standard.
“This is Moose.” Glenna kept an eye on him as she brought him around. Moose seemed more interested in the humans than Robo, as he avoided eye contact with him, not overly aggressive and not fearful. Comfortable. This was typically the sign of a well-adjusted dog that hadn’t suffered any bad experiences with others.
Cole glanced at Robo, standing at attention beside Mattie, alert and ready to guard if he needed to but still open and friendly.
“That’s a good reaction so far,” Mattie said. “Are you okay with dropping the leash and letting them smell each other? If we keep the leashes on, we can intervene if we need to.”
“Sure.”
Mattie gave Robo some obedience commands, which Cole thought were meant to remind him that she was alpha in their pack and he needed to listen to her. Finally she let go of the leash. “Go make friends,” she told him.
The two dragged their leashes as they circled the enclosure made by the vehicles, darting in for a quick sniff of each other before trotting away to mark tires—a doggy pissing contest, but friendly and harmless.
“Time to unload the horses?” Cole asked Mattie.
“I think so. Is that all right with you, Glenna?”
Glenna had her eye on Moose, but she nodded agreement. “Looks like these two will run together without any fighting. They should settle in.”
Cole suspected it was dawn, though the sunlight struggled to break through the cloud layer. He felt pressed to get started despite the darkness. He still needed to tie packs behind saddles and make sure everyone’s gear was secure. If they were going to reach the high country before noon, they’d better get going.
* * *
Mattie had unclipped Robo’s leash, and she let him lope ahead to sniff rabbit brush and then circle back to run beside her. When they reached the trees in the forest, she’d call him in to stay close.
Though being up so high on horseback still made her uneasy, she’d grown used to Mountaineer. Cole rode beside her, and she thought that as long as she paid attention to what she was doing, she should be okay. At least they had this gradual slope to navigate before reaching the high country. She considered it a warm-up.
By the time they arrived at the place where she’d found Wilson Nichol, the sun was shedding enough light for them to see. Robo alerted, and she wondered if he’d picked up the scent of the tiger or if he was reacting to the decaying blood on the grass. When he started to charge forward to go check it out, she called him back, and he came willingly enough. Glenna called Moose as well, so there was no competition for Robo to try to reach the source of the odor first.
When Glenna dismounted and opened the pack behind her saddle, her adept movements led Mattie to assume she’d had plenty of experience around horses and their gear. Glenna fished out a collar that jingled and clanged as she held it up and shook it. “Moose is silent when he’s tracking. He wears this so I can keep up with him when we hit the forest.”
Mattie found it fascinating that Moose took on a more businesslike attitude when he wore his special collar. Just like Robo. “You can tell Moose has tracked before.”
“Oh yeah.” Glenna also strapped an e-collar on Moose while she spoke. “We trained five lion dogs to hunt in a pack for our cougar project. Moose got lots of experience.”
“How does that work? Robo tangled with a cougar last fall and got a gash in his skin for his trouble.”
“There’s something about these dogs that must be passed on in their DNA. They’re driven to corner the lions, but they rarely move in close enough to attack. They were used for big-game hunting in Africa back in the nineteenth and early- twentieth century. Not so much today.”
“What did you do once you found the cougars?”
“The dogs would typically run them to ground or up a tree. We darted, weighed, and measured them while they were sedated, and then recovered them and set them free.”
Mattie asked the question that concerned her. “What are the chances we can sedate and relocate this tiger?”
Glenna frowned. “It will depend on whether or not Moose can tree it. That’s the easiest way to get to these big cats without anyone getting hurt. I read last night that tigers will run from humans if they can, but they’ll fight if they’re cornered. We’ll just have to see how close we can get. If necessary, we’ll have to kill it.”
Glenna called Moose and led him over to the tiger prints. After he sniffed the area, his demeanor shifted, and he trotted around with excitement. Glenna patted his side and chattered about getting ready to hunt, elevating his prey drive in the same way Mattie did with Robo before a search. Finally, she sent him off with a gesture and the command she must use for tracking cougars: “Hunt it up. Go find a lion.”
Moose took off toward the layer of foothills that fronted the distant peaks, loping along with occasional sniff checks on the ground. The damp morning had apparently enhanced the tiger’s scent, as Mattie had thought it would.
When Robo dipped his head to sniff the track, Mattie noticed his hackles rise. He probably remembered the scent and had cataloged the growl they’d heard inside that smart brain of his. Her dog was a quick study, and he’d already locked in this scent and was ready to follow the track; it didn’t matter that he’d never been trained to do this kind of work.
“Let’s go,” Glenna said, mounting her horse. “Don’t let Moose get too far ahead.”
Glenna and Brody kneed their horses forward at a lope. Mattie’s anxiety surged when Mountaineer began to follow at a teeth-jarring trot, and she clutched the saddle horn with both hands, almost dropping the reins.
She was thinking she couldn’t do this when Cole rode up next to her, providing instruction in a quiet, steady voice. “Keep your heels down and tighten your grip with your legs. Just a little bit.”
Mountaineer’s gait smoothed out into a rocking-chair-like canter.
“There,” Cole said. “Now try to keep your back straight and relax your hips in the saddle.”
Mattie began to hope she could manage to ride with the others. Once they caught up to the dogs, Duke slowed and Mountaineer automatically matched his pace. This time she was ready for the rough trot, and they alternated between a trot and a canter as they followed behind the dogs, moving upslope. Within a mile they came to a fence, and Mattie called Robo back. She didn’t want him to try to duck under the bottom strand and get hooked by the barbs.
Robo looked disappointed, but when she told him to heel, he stayed by Mountaineer’s side. Grateful for their countless hours of obedience training, Mattie rode toward where Glenna and Moose waited on the near side of the fence.
“This is the far end of the BLM,” Glenna called to Cole. “Do you know where we can find a gate?”
“Wait a minute. I thought we might run into fencing, so I brought a pair of wire nippers. We’ll have to repair fence later, but this will be all right for today.”