Tito 



powerful guardian. For them her breast was 

 soft and warm and infinitely tender. She fed 

 and warmed them, she was their wise and watch- 

 ful keeper. She was always at hand with food 

 when they hungered, with wisdom to foil the 

 cunning of their foes, and with a heart of cour- 

 age tried to crown her well-laid plans for them 

 with uniform success. 

 • ,-;,"-. /, ::r ''"\ A baby Coyote is a shapeless, senseless, 



"■*<(/- i ih_, ,-,/ wriggling, and — to every one but its mother — 

 aS.y X> a most uninteresting little lump. But after its 



w eyes are open, after it has developed its legs, 



after it has learned to play in the sun with its 

 brothers, or run at the gentle call of its mother 

 when she brings home game for it to feed on, 

 the baby Coyote becomes one of the cutest, 

 dearest little rascals on earth. And when the 

 nine that made up Coyotito's brood had reached 

 this stage, it did not require the glamour of 

 motherhood to make them objects of the great- 

 est interest. 



The summer was now on. The little ones 

 were beginning to eat flesh-meat, and Tito, with 

 some assistance from Saddleback, was kept 

 busy to supply both themselves and the brood. 



320 



