''Ajid ardent we pursue; our laboring steeds. 

 We press, we urge; till once the summit gain'd. 

 Painfully panting, there we breathe awhile; 

 Then like a foaming torrent, pouring down 

 Precipitant, we smoke along the vale." 



Somervile. 



VII 



COYOTE HUNTING ON THE PLAINS OF 

 COLORADO 



THE GREAT PLAINS AT SUNRISE — RANCH LIFE THE ANTELOPE 



CHASE THE OLD CATTLEMAN A GOOD SHOT — THE RIDE OF 



THE TENDERFOOT — ROPING A COYOTE. 



A RMED with railway passes and an order from the Divi- 

 -^■^ si on Superintendent to stop the Union Pacific night ex- 

 press at Kit Carson, we (jNIr. Petrie, Mr. Steepleton, the 

 writer, and six of Mr. Petrie's best coyote greyhounds) left 

 Denver, full of hope and running over with expectation. "I 

 shall not be satisfied," said ]Mr. Petrie, "if we come back with 

 less than six coyote pelts. For the last tliirteen years I have 

 been promising an old friend and ranchman down there that 

 I would bring my hounds down, and give the coyotes on his 

 ranch a round trip up and a dance worth the money." 



"The thirteen years," said Mr. Steepleton, "is not a very 

 good number to go on for luck, besides, to-morrow is the 13th of 

 December, and Kit Carson is 113 miles from Denver. Also, 

 we are starting on Friday. That's a pretty stiff combination 



