When the weather grew cooler toward the end of Autumn Tito had gone far
toward repairing the defects in her early training. She was more like an
ordinary Coyote in her habits now, and she was more disposed to sing the
sundown song. One night, when she got a response, she yielded to the
impulse again to call, and soon afterward a large, dark Coyote appeared.
The fact that he was there at all was a guarantee of unusual gifts, for
the war against his race was waged relentlessly by the cattlemen. He
approached with caution. Tito's mane bristled with mixed feelings at
the sight of one of her own kind. She crouched flat on the ground and
waited. The newcomer came stiffly forward, nosing the wind; then up the
wind nearly to her. Then he walked around so that she should wind him,
and raising his tail, gently waved it. The first acts meant armed
neutrality, but the last was a distinctly friendly signal. Then he
approached and she rose up suddenly and stood as high as she could to
be smelled. Then she wagged the stump of her tail, and they considered
themselves acquainted.
{Illustration}
The newcomer was a very large Coyote, half as tall again as Tito, and
the dark patch on his shoulders was so large and black that the cow-boys
when they came to know him, called him Saddleback. From that time
these two continued more or less together. They were not always
close together, often were miles apart during the day, but toward
{Illustration: They Considered Themselves Acquainted} night one or the
other would get on some high open place and sing the loud
Yap-yap-yap-yow-wow-wow-wow-wow,
and they would forgather for some foray on hand.
The physical advantages were with Saddleback, but the greater cunning
was Tito's, so that she in time became the leader. Before a month a
third Coyote had appeared on the scene and become also a member of this
loose-bound fraternity, and later two more appeared. Nothing succeeds
like success. The little bobtailed Coyote had had rare advantages of
training just where the others were lacking: she knew the devices of
man. She could not tell about these in words, but she could by the aid
of a few signs and a great deal of example. It soon became evident that
her methods of hunting were successful, whereas, when they went without
her, they often had hard luck. A man at Boxelder Ranch had twenty Sheep.
The rules of the county did not allow anyone to own more, as this was a
Cattle-range. The Sheep were guarded by a large and fierce Collie. One
day in winter two of the Coyotes tried to raid this flock by a bold
dash, and all they got was a mauling from the Collie. A few days later
the band returned at dusk. Just how Tito arranged it, man cannot tell.
We can only guess how she taught them their parts, but we know that she
surely did. The Coyotes hid in the willows. Then Saddleback, the bold
and swift, walked openly toward the Sheep and barked a loud defiance.
The Collie jumped up with bristling mane and furious growl, then, seeing
the foe, dashed straight at him. Now was the time for the steady nerve
and the unfailing limbs. Saddleback let the Dog come near enough
_almost_ to catch him, and so beguiled him far and away into the woods,
while the other Coyotes, led by Tito, stampeded the Sheep in twenty
directions; then following the farthest, they killed several and left
them in the snow. In the gloom of descending night the Dog and his
master laboured till they had gathered the bleating survivors; but next
morning they found that four had been driven far away and killed, and
the Coyotes had had a banquet royal.
{Illustration} The shepherd poisoned the carcasses and left them. Next
night the Coyotes returned. Tito sniffed the now frozen meat, detected
the poison, gave a warning growl, and scattered filth over the meat, so
that none of the band should touch it. One, however, who was fast and
foolish, persisted in feeding in spite of Tito's warning, and when they
came away he was lying poisoned and dead in the snow.
{Illustration}