Tito 



mouth a large Rabbit. The Coyote leaped just 

 at the same moment that Jake fired his revolver, 

 and the Dog broke into a fierce yelling and 

 dashed off in pursuit, while Jake blazed and 

 blazed away, without effect, and wondered why 

 the Coyote should still hang on to that Rabbit 

 as she ran for her life with the Dog yelling at 

 her heels. Jake followed as far as he could 

 and fired at each chance, but scored no hit. 

 So when they had vanished among the buttes 

 he left the Dog to follow or come back as he 

 pleased, while he returned to the den, which, of 

 course, was plain enough now. Jake knew that 

 the pups were there yet. Had he not seen the 

 mother bringing a Rabbit for them? 



So he set to work with pick and shovel all 

 the rest of that day. There were plenty of 

 signs that the den had inhabitants, and, duly 

 encouraged, he dug on, and after several hours 

 of the hardest work he had ever done, he came 

 to the end of the den — only to find it empty. 

 After cursing his luck at the first shock of dis- 

 gust, he put on his strong leather glove and 

 groped about in the nest. He felt something 

 firm and drew it out. It was the head and 



342 



