184 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



the thorough-bred harrier to the half-blooded greyhound, 

 besides the oi polloi of the dog world generally, whose 

 family no one could make out. This miscellaneous rabble 

 seemed to think that they were assembled for the special 

 purpose of fighting, so they went at it vigorously whenever 

 they had the opportunity. Were it not for the pace at 

 which they were moving, and the many yells arid curses 

 hurled at them by their owners, half of them would evi- 

 dently have been killed before we reached our destination. 



A trot of three or four miles brought us to a scrubby 

 coppice, in which firs, cotton- woods, alders, and willows 

 were mingled together in confusion. Adjoining this was 

 a stream, and back of it rose a series of the low terraces so 

 characteristic of the trappean regions of the Pacific Coast. 

 One of the party, who had two mongrel hounds that were 

 used for hunting anything, from the bear and deer to a 

 wild-cat, and which were said to be excellent " smellers," 

 was appointed Master of the Hunt, out of respect to his 

 dogs ; and he, pleased with his new honor, went proudly 

 forward with his pack and began to beat the excuse for a 

 wood downward, while others took positions to the wind- 

 ward to check any movements in that direction by the 

 quarry. A half-bred Indian, who was supposed to know 

 more about coyotes than they did themselves, took all the 

 dogs that he could induce to follow him to a treeless vale 

 below the coppice ; but his followers were evidently bent 

 more on fighting than hunting, for our ears were soon re- 

 galed with snarling, growling, and yells, and the "cussing" 

 of a disgusted whipper-in. 



I had taken a position to the leeward of the vale with a 

 party of four, who had half a dozen dogs with them that 

 no amount of coaxing and patting could induce to leave 

 the heels of their masters, and there we waited patiently 

 for half an hour; but hearing no sound that indicated 

 work, an impatient member of the group started off him- 

 self, stating that he could find a coyote quicker than all the 

 assembled canine multitude. His assertion proved perfect- 

 ly correct; for he was gone scarcely ten minutes before 



