226 TEXAS AND ARIZONA 



cided ; the second one recrossed the trail, and 

 the two ran off among the creosote clumps on 

 the left, and in a few seconds were lost ; but the 

 hesitation had given me time to note their color, 

 size, build (especially their long, sharp, collie- 

 shaped noses), and their general appearance and 

 action, all very " doggy." 



This, as I have said, was but a little way be- 

 yond the university buildings, and, knowing no 

 better, I assumed the occurrence to be a common 

 one, and spoke of it in a matter-of-fact tone to 

 the campers at the fort. They exclaimed at once 

 that I had been surprisingly fortunate ; they 

 themselves, passing their days and nights in the 

 desert, seldom or never saw one of the animals, 

 though they often heard them barking after 

 dark. The circumstantiality of my description, 

 and it may be their politeness, for they were 

 gentlemen, " baching it " here for the older 

 brother's health, made it impossible for them 

 to suggest a doubt as to the identity of the ani- 

 mals ; but I had no difficulty in perceiving that 

 if I wished to pass as a man of veracity among 

 ordinary dwellers hereabouts I must not see coy- 

 otes too frequently. In point of fact, the very 

 next man to whom I mentioned the circumstance, 

 a man who has lived here for several years, on 

 the rim of the desert, answered promptly: 



