:::;;:::3e THE MAGIC POOLS ^:::::::: 



velvety light. The texture of the sand seemed soft and 

 loose. 



Suddenly, fifty feet away, a spot of sand seemed to 

 shift and move and How along, Avinding, sinuous as a 

 snake, around the boulders. Only my mind started, alert 

 at the sight. My body was as immovable as the rocks. I 

 knew that this was no anlmo ; the mystery, intangible, 

 yet not disdaining a nightly portion of the food spread 

 for it. 



Not until the something came many feet nearer did 

 my eyes make out the outlines of a Gray Fox. No more 

 wonderful resemblance ever existed between an ani- 

 mal and its surroundings. The ghostly creature moved 

 so close to the ground that it apparently cast no 

 shadow. From head to tail, not a distinguishing tint or 

 mark was visible, — all gray, gray, — a sand wraith 

 in fox form. Suddenly, from nowhere, a great vulture 

 swooped low over the sand. What could ever escajje 

 his eye ! And when the swish of his wings and his 

 shadow^, blacker than himself, had passed, the fox w^as 

 gone, — as if it had melted to nothing or sunk into 

 the sand. 



Five minutes passed, the fox moved, and my eyes 

 asfain found him. He ©"lided to the remains of our veni- 

 son supper, stopped, looked straight at me and knew 

 me for what I w\as. Back on his trail he turned, and 

 glided swiftly from view into the darkness of the arroyo. 

 Something drew my head around and there, behind the 



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