WATER TRAILS OF THE CERISO 



furtively from the cover of near-by brush, 

 unprepared and half uncertain of its identity 

 until it rode clear of the peaks, and finally 

 make off with all the air of one caught nap- 

 ping by an ancient joke. The moon in its -/§ 

 wanderings must be a sort of exasperation 

 to cunning beasts, likely to spoil by un- 

 timely risings some fore-planned mischief. 

 But to take the trail again ; the coyotes 

 that are astir in the Ceriso of late after- 

 noons, harrying the rabbits from their 

 shallow forms, and the hawks that sweep 

 and swing above them, are not there from 

 any mechanical promptings of instinct, 

 but because they know of old experience 

 that the small fry are about to take to seed 

 gathering and the water trails. The rabbits 

 begin it, taking the trail with long, light 

 leaps, one eye and ear cocked to the hills 

 from whence a coyote might descend upon 

 33 



