Los Angeles herald., 1892-01-10
COYOTE-THAT-BITES.

blood before sun up and his I'LL 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 aud 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 rifle 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 theswires is sooth-
ing sound, and no sooner had his head
touched the earth than sleep took
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 bfue that arched the desert.
1t was quiet there and restful-nc
sound save the music of the wires
Stay, there were ether 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 veices 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
ly 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
hidden.
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 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
chase after young owl that could not
fly, and that made it's 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 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
go into his sisters chubby hands until
it had been stripped of its dangers by his
ready jackknife.
"'F on'y had sum matches to build
fire wiv," sighed Dubs, SID burn off
vese prickles JUS like We Injuns does"
''O-o!" came suddenly from under
Gays sunbonnet. "Wot's dat?"
"W'y, it's a Jug" and Dubs left the
'stoonies" 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 a 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 "worky Injun," like the Yaquis, who
shoveled and picked on the railroad, and
SO his mind became wholly at ease.
The Coyotes cartridge belt, which
had been SO loosely strapped, had fallen
off and lay by his side. There were
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 for
her share of the innocent toys, Gay let
one Of them drop ON the Coyotes leg.
Perhaps the mescal's influence was on
the wane. for big brown knee was
thrust quickly up from the sand, and a
big brown hand clutched the ugly knife
at tho Coyotes side, but the hand fell