The Kangaroo Rat 



At first it seemed to be made up of the trails 

 of many small bipeds, each closely followed by 

 its little one. Now, man and Birds are the only 

 bipeds, but these were clearly not the tracks of 

 any Bird. Trying to be judicial, I put together 

 all the facts that the dust reported. First, here 

 was proof that a number of tiny, two-legged, 

 fur-slippered creatures came nightly to dance in 

 the moonlight. Each one, as he pirouetted 

 about, was closely followed by a much smaller 

 one of the same kind, as though by his page. 

 They came from nowhere and went again as 

 they would. And they must have been invisible 

 at will, or else how escape the ever-watchful 

 Coyotes? 



If only this had been in England or Ireland, 

 any peasant could have explained it offhand — 

 invisible pairs of tiny, furry boots, dancing in 

 the moonlight — why, the veriest idiot knows 

 that — fairies, of course. 



But in New Mexico I had never heard of 

 such a thing. In no work on this country, so 

 far as I knew, was there any mention of their 

 occurrence. 



If only it could be! Would it not be delight- 

 236 



