The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-12-15
TICKLE The COYOTE. ,
By r. ST.. MARS.

vermont, ne tnOuSnL TO tame nlm.
He had heard Of foxes being so
treated, and in the innocence of his
heart he concluded that he could do
the same with a young coyote. In ex-
tenuation of this it may be said that
Binks was no naturalist. Tickle
hardly struck one as being amenable
to human kindness. He was between
a fox and a wolf in size, with all the
cunning of the first and the treacher-
Gus ferocity of the second rolled into
one lean frame. From the darkest
corner of his kennel. where he sulked
all day, he snarled at everything and
anything. Apparently he suspected
all the world - even his chain he
thought was a snake.
Tickle put up with captivity for
two days, and during the third night
he vanished into space. To be exact,
he slipped his collar at midnight, with
an ease that would have ~astonished
Binks,. and trotted away into the
darkness. He put about seven miles
between himself and his late owners
house before he allowed the pangs of
hunger to stop him. Then he cast
around along the edge of a, wood for
d meal, and shortly espied some rab-
bits feeding in a field.
It so happened that a fox was
watching those same rabbits for rea-
sons of his own, and when a long
dark shadow shot forth from the
wood, snatched up a rabbit and re-
turned to cover, almost before the
death squeal of bunny had ceased,
that fox vas dumbfounded.
He could himself accomplish some
thing in the way of swift dashes after
prey, but this fairly took his breath
away. He decided he must see more
Of the big interloper, so he advanced
%crouching almost fiat, according to
the rules of unseen approach as fol-
lowed by generations of foxes.
The coyote, however, smelled him
thirty yards away, and so it came
about that when Mr.. Fox, judging
himself to be fairly close, thrust his
head from with great caution,
be found himself lookinginto Pickles
cruel eyes, not three inches away.
This was disconcerting, to say the
least of it, the more so because only
a hurried jump backward saved Rey-
nard's throat from the strangers
g~listening white fangs. Indeed, he
heard the sharp snap quite plainly,
even as he jumped. Then the fox
fed and Tickle continued his meal
with calm equanimity.
Just before dawn Tickle happened
upon a burrow in a disused quarry,
which struck him as so roomy and
comfortable that he determined to
take up his quarters there. 1t did not
sccur to him that his habitation
might possibly belong to some other
animal-at any rate he took posses
sion and, lying down, was soon fast
asleep.
He was, however, awakened from
his first slumber by the sound of a
Stealthy tread. His ears could hardly
have warned him more quickly had
he been awake, and the two move
ments Of opening his eyes and barring
his teeth were simultaneous. A
shadow fell across the entrance and
an inquiring muzzle shifted at the
strange faint. Evidently it was the
landlord returned-or rather, a LODI
ger-apother fox. in fact. Suddenly
a grinning row of teeth, accompanied
by a savage snarl, shot out from the
blackness of this underground abode
Snap! snap! snap! went Pickles long
jaws. A streak of Mr.. FoX's furs
few into the air before that aston
ished creature quite realized what
was happening, then he fell backward
as the quickest way out of the dan
ger zone. But he did not go far; he
only retired half a hundred feet OF
so, and then, sitting up on his
launches, took up a waiting position
ticking his bleeding shoulders.
Now, strange to say, this expectan'
attitude on the part of Mr.. Fox made
Tickle, who was closely watching him
somewhat uneasy. He knew the ca
nine world we'll, and was aware tina
when one Or more Of them sit waiting
like that it BODIES evil for some ONT
else. In his own home in the Fa,
West he had seen a pack of wolve!
sit and wait in similar fashion rounl
IN old Indian who was freezing tt
death.
In the gray cold light Of early dawl
a long, low shape appeared sham
bling closely toward the burrow, ant
the fox, still patiently waiting
grinned with the lolling tongue i!
the way that foxes have.
The arrival was a badger, ant
he was the real landlord of the bur
row, the fox being, as 1 have alread
remarked, only a ledger. It is
strange custom, this of the badgers
to allow foxes a share Of their dens
but instances are frequently met wit
of the two creatures living amicabl
together in the same burrow.
In the present case the badge
reached his home and partly disar
peared down the hole when. quit
suddenly, he bounced out again wit
a series Of low grunts, and Tickle
lean snout followed him. Badgers
however, are not so easily kicked o.
their own front doorstep, as it were
This one went in again. saying strang