Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1891-12-24
COY0TE-THAT-BITES.

INOb every ApdCuo Cdu Bct u1b LII VI
blood before sun up and his fill of mescal
before noon. Yet Coyote -That-Bites had
managed to achieve both those delight
full ends, and of all the happy savages on
the Colorado desert he was the most
riotously, tumultuously happy. With
what keen delight he had drawn his
sharp blade across the throats of Jose
Sanchez and his wife, after he had stolen
into their wagon in the gray dawn, and
what thrills of joy shot through his
breast when he silenced the yells of their
two little children with the butt end of
their fathers own rifle. And then, when
he had taken what gold was in the Mexi-
cans bag, what mescal was in his demi-
john, and had strapped Jose's rather
loose fitting cartridge belt about his sun
brown belly, with what fierce pleasure
he stole away from the scene of his
bloody work, and with the Mexican's
rifle on his shoulder had wandered far
down the dry arroyo, slipping from the
demijohn the stupefying juice of the
agave from time to time until he felt
that he was growing drowsy.
Then he had dragged his uncertain
way along until he had come to the rail
road track. He stared stupidity at the
bright steel rails and looked up at the
humming wires in an awed sort of way
He would like to lie there behind the
rocks, he thought, until some one should
come along the track, and then try shot
at him with his newly acquired weapon.
The demijohn was growing light and
the rife was growing heavy. Well, it
was getting toward noon and rather
warm, even for an Apache, and he would
lie down in the shade of the rocks over
there and rest.
The humming of the wires is sooth-
ing sound, and no sooner had his head
touched the earth than sleep took a
mighty hold upon him and wiped out
his realizing sense of joy, as sleep has a
way of doing with everybody that has
anything to be joyful for And SO he
lay, with the rifle by his side, and his
unspeakably hideous face turned up to-
ward the blue that arched the desert.
1t was quiet there and restful-no
sound save the music of the wires.
Stay, there were other sounds; but they
came some time after Coyote -That-Bites
had thrown himself upon the sand and
gone off to the land of Nod. They came
family at first, and mingled with the
murmurings of the wires. Surely they
were the voices of children.
Had the red beast been awake he
might have imagined that they were the
haunting voices of the wee Mexican
children whose blood he had so ruthless
ay shed that morning, but he heard them
not They were very far from being
ghostly voices anyway-those tones that
now piped forth SO merrily as Dubs and
Gay trudged down the line. They were
walking to the scoopout along the road
bed-not on the track, for that was for
bidden.
There were other things that were for
hidden, too, and one of them was stray
ing SO far away from the station, but
Dubs was 'taking good care'' of his
three-year-old sister, and in the pride of
his six full years he was equal to the
care of half dozen such as Gay.
To give Dubs all due credit, he did not
know he was half a mile from home, and
he really was going to turn back pretty
soon. But the children had found many
interesting and beautiful things to claim
their attention. First there had been q
chase after a young owl that could not
fly, and that made its way along in the
most haphazard manner imaginable
Then horned toad had been captured,
and Dubs had dragged the disgusted
prisoner along by string until he had
tired Of the sport and had let him go
again. Then, always keeping close to
the railroad, they had entered a great
field of cacti, where Dubs had tried very
hard to pick "toonies" without getting
the insidious, needlelike spines in his
fingers. He was fairly successful, but
he would not let the fruit of the cactus
60 into his sisters chubby hands until
1t had been stripped of its dangers by his
ready jackknife.
"'F on'y had sum matches to build q
fire wiv," sighed Dubs, ''Id burn off
vese prickles JUS like We Injuns does"
"O-ol" came suddenly from under
Gays sunbonnet. "Wot's datf"
"W'y, it's Jug" and Dubs left the
sstoonies" and started toward the pile of
rocks where lay the Coyotes demijohn,
and where also lay the Coyote himself.
The two trudged up the little slope,
and Dubs grasped the handle of the
demijohn, only to let it drop again and
spring back quickly with Gay in his
arms, for he had caught sight of the
Coyote, and he was smitten with sud-
den desire to go home.
But he saw the Indian did not move,
and so he suddenly became very brave.
He was certainly sound asleep and no
more to be feared than papa when he lay
on the lounge in his midday repose.
Then, too, Dubs was quite sure he was
a'sworky Injun," like the Yaquis, who
shoveled and picked on the railroad, and
90 his mind became wholly at ease.
The Coyotes cartridge belt, which
had been so loosely strapped, had fallen
OF and lay by his side. There were a
hundred very interesting bits of brass
sticking in it, and the children soon had
these scattered all about in the sand by
the snoring Coyote. In the scramble fot
her share Of The innocent toys, Gay lei
one az them drop on the Coyotes leg.