New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-11-29
COYOTE THAT-BITE

delightful ends, and of all the happy sayages Si
tnmultnousIy happy With what keen delight
be had drawn his sharp Olade across 'e stoen
Of Jose Sanchez and his wife aiter ne i@u d hot
into their wagon in the gray lawn, duu Wh"O
thrills of oy shot through his DreasS "hoh ~. ny
silenced the yes of their TWO little shiiaIeh Nun
the butt end OF their fathers own run was in
the MeXican's bag, what mtscal was .ln
bis demiohn and had strapped JoScs Idciiel
loose fitting cartridge belf about MS e aSv,v
from the of his bloody work, ana WIN Iog
Mexican's rifle his shoulder had wah df
far down the dry arroyo, slipping from the deihi-
John the stupefying Juice of the agaVe from tiiho
to time until he felt that he was growing droWSy'
Then he had dragged his uncertain way along,
until he had come to the railroad track ne
stared stupidity at the bright steel rails, anu
looked up at the humming wires In an awed sort
Of way He would like to lie there behind the
along the track, and then try shot at nm WIFI
his newly acquired weapon. The demuohh was
growing light and the rifle was growing heavy.
Well il getting toward noon, ana rSIheI
warm even for an Apache, and he would lie
down in the shade of the rocks over there ana
The humming of the wires is soothing sound.
md no sooner had his head touched the earth
than sleep took a mighty hold upon him. ana
wiped out his realizing sense OF JOY, as sleep mas
a way of doing with everybody that has ANYTHING
10 be joyful for And so he lay, with the rlfe
by his side, and his unspeakably hideonS lace
turned up toward the blue that arched the desert
il was quiet there aud restful mo sound save
,be music of the wires Stay, there were other
sounds: but they came some time after Coyo1ee-
and gone off to the Land OF Nod They came
family at first, and mingled with the murinuTngs
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
ruthlcsSly she'd that morning j1ut he heafd
them not They were very far from being
ghosty voices anyway-those tones that now
gped forth so msy as DToT ang nay be scGoS
out along the road-bed-n0t on the track, lot
that forbidden
There other things that were forbidden.
TOO and one of them straying 50 far away
from the station But Dubs was taking good
care of his three-year-od sister, and in the pride
Of his six full years h" was equal to the care OF
half dozen such as GAY
To give Dubs all due credit, he did not know
he was half mile from home, and he really, was
going to turn back pretty soon But the children
TO claim their attention First there had
been, chase after a Young owl that
along in the most haphazard manner imaginable
Thin a horned toad had been captarcd. and l,ubs
string until he had tired of the sport and had let
him go again. Then, always keeping close TO the
railroad. they had entered great Held OF cacti:
where Dubs had tried very hard TO pick toonies"
without getting the insidious, neede-lille spines
in his fingers. lie fairly successful but he
would not let tile fruit Of the cactus go into his
of IFS dangers by his ready iack-lnifc.
"'F on'y had tim matches 10 build Gre wiv,"
signed Durs. I'd burn OF vcsc prickies. JUS ike
"O-ol" came suddenly from under Gays sun
bonnet. "Wot's dat? ?"
WV it's jug!" and Dubs left the toonies"
and started toward the pile Of rocks where lay the
Coyotes demijohn, and where also lay the Coyote
himself
grasped the handle of the demiiohn, only to let IL
drop again and spring back quickly with Gay III
his arms. For he had caught sight Of the Coyote,
and he was smittcn with sudden desire 10 90
homo.
But he saw the Indian did not move, and so he
suddenly became very brave lie was certainly
sound asleep, and more to be feared than papa
when he lay on his lounge in his midday fepoSSe.
Then too Dubs was quite sure he was wOrky
Inun, like the Naquis who shoIelled ana plcKet
on the railroad and 50 his mind became whohy aO
Tic Coyotes cartridge belt, which had been so
loosely strapped had fallen of, and lay by ms SIDE
brass sticking in it. and The children soon had
these scattered all about in the sand by the snoring
Coyote In the scramble for her snare fho 0i
drop on the Coyotes leg. Perhaps the
mescals influence was on the wane,
for a big brown knee was thrust quickly up from
the sand and a big brown hand clutched the ugly
knife at the Coyotes side: but the hand teI ana
the noble red man snored on.
Dubs tried on the cartridge belt ana became an
Indian all but the Indispensable knife. ana ne
concluded to borrow that from the sleeper whose
fingers had lost their grip on the DuckhOFh hdhuc'
Its bi9gern Momme's butcher knife. ain
il, Cav ~ the young savage asked, az he graSped
the handle of the deyish-loOklng blade. Now
Won 'tand over we're an I'll get hind Wis wock
Ven you tum along, an I'll jump out ana XII you
Oh it's on'y make b'levc. Vesc kind O. Injuns
don kill nobody and be stuck contempluous
finger toward the innocent Coyote. It's ony
PEACHES at kills, an vey's none yound here, NOM
mic says. Pm a Pachc, YOU better look out,
Ii was dubious sport for Gay, and when IL came
ha 2 pop IF SIN
You've wOked him mp am 'poiled 1t all sad
Dubs in a tone Of accuse ion. Now he'll want
his knife"
Sure enough the Coyote That Bites did shake
his brown legs and arms quite vigorously but the
last two big swallows of mescal held him down.
So after turning over and burying his latchetllke
face in the sand he lay quiet again
When he had thus turned over, was brought
into view the rifle, which had been concealed by
covctous eyes. lie could not withstand the temp
tation of feeling it all over, standing il up on its
butf, and trying to shoulder II, but This last feat
he could hardly accomplish Just what it was
that kept his fingers OFF the hammer and trigger,
and prevented a sound that would surely
have brought the Coyote to his feet with yell
am sure cannot tell but Dubs played with that
fascinating weapon for nearly an hour, while Gay
poured sand over the cartridges, hiding nearly all
OF them from view
BIZ this time the suns rays were on the long
slant. and the children were very hungry. BY
this time too the Apache was growing restless,
for the meScal had nearly lost its grip upon him
A train laundering by, or, much less, q swift"
brushing against his black foot, a spider dropping
on his leg, or even big fly buzzing at his ear
any of these would have set his demon force into
play again.
But tie children could not wait for such demon
stratious as these though why it aid NOT occur to
Duhs that the Coyotes ear needed tickling with
grease-wood twig, the Lord only knows. The
wind was up, and the wires were murmuflng
louder than ever. The wee ones had sported IN
the black shadows long enOugh,--had played with
tie fangs OF the deadly serpent until they were
tired and their stOmachs were empty 10 they
set off on a trot for home.
Just rs they turned the bend and came in sight
of the low Roof Of the station, dust-deylI
swept by the rocks where lay the COyOte-T That
Bites fIe jumped 10 lis feet, grasped his empty
sheath gave a mad whoop, and stared about in