88 WHERE ROLLS THE OREGON 



out into a wide sage flat. She had led them on for 

 perhaps a mile, when, coming to a dense patch 

 of rabbit-brush, she put them to bed again, this 

 time successfully, for immediately her legs began 

 to twinkle as, whisking past the hunter, hidden in 

 a low juniper some distance out in the flat, she 

 made off up the valley. 



Marking the spot where the young were hid- 

 den, Dr. Hibbard was climbing down toward 

 them, when he heard a sharp blat and saw the 

 three young antelope tearing down the trail to- 

 ward him, the lame one falling a little behind. 

 At the same time he saw the old antelope, her 

 hair puffed, racing at top speed back toward him 

 and the coming young ones and, down a parallel 

 trail through the sage, running neck and neck 

 with the mother, three coyotes, who had evidently 

 been watching the whole affair from the edge of 

 the rim rock. 



It was a race between the mother and the coy- 

 otes to reach the young ones first, though she kept 

 just in front of the wolves as if to keep them back 

 from the kids. But the coyotes were at her heels, 

 and as they neared the kids, one of the three 

 brutes, outrunning the others, came up at her 



