226 WATCHED BY WILD ANIMALS 



for long distances. One which struck me in the 

 side felt like a thrown baseball. There was a 

 thumping, deep roar while they dashed meteor- 

 ically down. 



Dog town watched the hail but was deserted 

 before the first raindrop fell. The downpour 

 lasted for several minutes with a plentiful 

 accompaniment of crashing of lightning. 



A deep sheet of water swept down from the 

 prairie beyond the town limits to the west, 

 where the rainfall was a cloudburst. The sheet 

 of water overspread the town and temporarily 

 filled hundreds of the inhabited dens. 



Out came the sputtering, protesting dogs. 

 Numbers, perhaps hundreds, were drowned. 

 Across the soaked prairie I hurried, catching 

 the effects and the movements. I pulled several 

 gurgling dogs from their water-filled holes, 

 each of them making nip-and-tuck efforts to 

 climb out. 



The following morning a pair of coyotes 

 slipped up the invading gully trench into town. 

 Occasionally these crafty fellows peeked over 

 the bank. Then they crept farther in, and one 

 peeped from a screen of sagebrush on the bank. 

 Suddenly both dashed out and each killed two 

 dogs. The entire village howled and yapped 

 itself hoarse while the invaders feasted within 

 the town limits. Leisurely the coyote at last 



