THE COYOTE OF PELICAN POINT 85. v,, 



ually turned a back handspring and started for the ' 

 i, point. 



The dogs were hardly two hundred yards behind^ 

 him, and were making short work of the space be- c ; 

 tween. It seemed hardly fair, and I must say that I 

 felt something like sympathy for the under dog, wild \ 

 ) dog though he was ; the odds against him were so *. 

 V ; great. 



But the coyote knew his track thoroughly, and c 

 was taking advantage of the rough, loose, shelving / 

 ground. For the farther out toward the end of the k 

 point they ran, the narrower, rockier, and steeper > 

 grew the peninsula, the more difficult and danger-. \ 

 ous the footing. 



The coyote slanted along the side of the ridge, - ; -, 

 and took a sloping slab of rock ahead of him with a C 

 slow side-step and a climb that brought the dogs close "\ 

 ,& up behind him. They took the rock at a leap, slid \--- 

 ': halfway across, and scrambling, rolled several yards ; 

 { down the slope and lost all the gain they had : 

 made. 



Things began to even up. The chase began to be 7, 

 interesting. Here judgment was called for, as well as ' 



speed. The cliff swallows swarmed out of their nests 

 L 3 



under the overhanging rocks; the black cormorants 

 and great-winged pelicans saw their old enemy com- \^J 

 & ing, and rose, flapping, over the water; the circling / 

 ; / \ gulls dropped low between the runners; their strange ^ ' ; 

 V clangor and the stranger tropical shapes thick in ' 



-' - ,- - -- :,= /;-' ; 



~ ^ 



