Oliver Jake had several plans for making a fortune, but each in turn was
abandoned as soon as he found that it meant work. At one time or other
most men of this kind see the chance of their lives in a poultry-farm.
They cherish the idea that somehow the poultry do all the work. And
without troubling himself about the details, Jake devoted an unexpected
windfall to the purchase of a dozen Turkeys for his latest scheme. The
Turkeys were duly housed in one end of Jake's shanty, so as to be well
guarded, and for a couple of days were the object of absorbing interest,
and had the best of care--too much, really. But Jake's ardour waned
about the third day; then the recurrent necessity for long celebrations
at Medora, and the ancient allurements of idle hours spent lying on the
tops of sunny buttes and of days spent sponging on the hospitality
of distant ranches, swept away the last pretence of attention to his
poultry-farm. The Turkeys were utterly neglected--left to forage for
themselves; and each time that Jake returned to his uninviting shanty,
after a few days' absence, he found fewer birds, till at last none but
the old Gobbler was left.
Jake cared little about the loss, but was filled with indignation
against the thief.
He was now installed as wolver to the Broadarrow outfit. That is, he was
supplied with poison, traps, and Horses, and was also entitled to all he
could make out of Wolf bounties. A reliable man would have gotten pay in
addition, for the ranchmen are generous, but Jake was not reliable.
Every wolver knows, of course, that his business naturally drops into
several well-marked periods.
In the late whiter and early spring--the love-season--the Hounds will
not hunt a She-wolf. They will quit the trail of a He-wolf at this
time--to take up that of a She-wolf, but when they do overtake her, they,
for some sentimental reason, invariably let her go in peace. In August
and September the young Coyotes and Wolves are just beginning to run
alone, and they are then easily trapped and poisoned. A month or so
later the survivors have learned how to take care of themselves, but in
the early summer the wolver knows that there are dens full of little
ones all through the hills. Each den has from five to fifteen pups, and
the only difficulty is to know the whereabouts of these family homes.
One way of finding the dens is to watch from some tall butte for a
Coyote carrying food to its brood. As this kind of wolving involved much
lying still, it suited Jake very well. So, equipped with a Broadarrow
arrow Horse and the boss's field-glasses, he put in week after week at
den-hunting--that is, lying asleep in some possible look-out, with an
occasional glance over the country when it seemed easier to do that than
to lie still.
The Coyotes had learned to avoid the open. They generally went homeward
along the sheltered hollows; but this was not always possible, and one
day, while exercising his arduous profession in the country west of
Chimney Butte, Jake's glasses and glance fell by chance on a dark spot
which moved along an open hillside. It was grey, and it looked like
this: and even Jake knew that that meant Coyote. If it had been a grey
Wolf it would have been so: with tail up. A Fox would have looked so:
the large ears and tail and the yellow colour would have marked it. And
a Deer would have looked so: That dark shade from the front end meant
something in his mouth--probably something being carried home--and that
would mean a den of little ones.
{Illustration}
He made careful note of the place, and returned there next day to watch,
selecting a high butte near where he had seen the Coyote carrying the
food. But all day passed, and he saw nothing. Next day, however, he
descried a dark Coyote, old Saddleback, carrying a large Bird, and by
the help of the glasses he made out that it was a Turkey, and then he
knew that the yard at home was quite empty, and he also knew where the
rest of them had gone, and vowed terrible vengeance when he should find
the den. He followed Saddleback with his eyes as far as possible, and
that was no great way, then went to the place to see if he could track
him any farther; but he found no guiding signs, and he did not chance on
the little hollow the was the playground of Tito's brood.
Meanwhile Saddleback came to the little hollow and gave the low call
that always conjured from the earth the unruly procession of the nine
riotous little pups, and they dashed at the Turkey and pulled and
worried till it was torn up, and each that got a piece ran to one side
alone and silently proceeded to eat, seizing his portion in his jaws
when another came near, and growling his tiny growl as he showed the
brownish whites of his eyes in his effort to watch the intruder. Those
that got the softer parts to feed on were well fed. But the three that
did not turned all then energies on the frame of the Gobbler, and over
that there waged a battle royal. This way and that they tugged and
tussled, getting off occasional scraps, but really hindering each other
feeding, till Tito glided in and deftly cut the Turkey into three or
four, when each dashed off with a prize, over which he sat and chewed
and smacked his lips and jammed his head down sideways to bring the
backmost teeth to bear, while the baby runt scrambled into the home den,
carrying in triumph his share--the Gobbler's grotesque head and neck.