Jack caught the horses and took them to the barn, where he found Hugh
waiting, and in a few moments they were on their way. When they had
nearly reached the lake, Hugh turned to Jack and said, "Now, maybe
we'll see some fun. This morning when I was in the pasture, I saw an
old doe antelope down on the flat here, and I reckon she's got kids
hidden somewhere. We can lie behind the hill and watch for them.
Maybe we'll have company too; there's likely to be a coyote or two
about, so you may as well fetch your gun with you."
They left the horses in a little hollow, and creeping up to the
top of the hill, carefully looked over it. At first they could see
nothing living, but after a moment Hugh said, "Look out! keep close!
there's a coyote coming out of the gulch over there." They watched
the cunning animal as it trotted out into the flat where the grass
was up to its belly, and there it began to quarter the ground, just
like a hunting dog, yet every moment or two it would pause and look
up toward the hills, as if it were afraid of something that was
coming. What this something was they soon saw, for presently a doe
antelope came galloping over the hills toward the flat, and when she
saw the coyote she ran faster, directly toward it. As soon as it saw
the doe, the coyote dropped its head and tail and started to run
away, at first slowly, but, as the antelope drew nearer to it, much
faster, until presently it was running nearly as fast as the doe.
Before it had crossed the flat the antelope had nearly caught it, and
now the coyote was running as fast as it could, with its tail tucked
between its legs, like a frightened cur. As the little wolf ran up
to the hill on which they were lying, the antelope caught up with
it, and several times struck it with her hoof, and each time she did
so, the wolf yelled with pain, just as a dog would yell when struck
with a whip. Wolf and antelope passed close by the watchers and soon
disappeared over the next hill.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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