n8 AN AMERICAN HUNTER 



on the level the dogs had shot their bolt and the coyote 

 drew away. When he got too far in front the dogs and 

 foremost riders stopped and waited for the rest of us to 

 overtake them, and shortly afterward Burke Burnett and 

 the general appeared in their buggy. One of the grey- 

 hounds was completely done out and we took some time 

 attending to it. Suddenly one of the men, either Tom 

 Burnett or Bony Moore, called out that he saw the coyote 

 coming back pursued by a horseman. Sure enough, the 

 unfortunate little wolf had run in sight of the wagons, 

 and the puncher on the young unbridled horse immedi- 

 ately took after him, and, in spite of a fall, succeeded in 

 heading him back and bringing him along in our direc- 

 tion, although some three-quarters of a mile away. Im- 

 mediately everyone jumped into his saddle and away we 

 all streamed down a long slope diagonally to the course 

 the coyote was taking. He had a long start, but the dogs 

 were rested, while he had been running steadily, and this 

 fact proved fatal to him. Down the slope to the creek 

 bottom at its end we rode at a run. Then there came a 

 long slope upward, and the heavier among us fell gradu- 

 ally to the rear. When we topped the divide, however, 

 we could see ahead of us the foremost men streaming 

 after the hounds, and the latter running in a way which 

 showed that they were well up on their game. Even a 

 tired horse can go pretty well down hill, and by dint of 

 hard running we who were behind got up in time to see 

 the worry when the greyhounds caught the coyote, by 

 some low ponds in a treeless creek-bed. We had gone 

 about seven miles, the unlucky coyote at least ten. Our 



