Following the Lowland Wolf 105 



coyote or lowland wolf, the clever animal so familiar in 

 the West. Only the day before I had seen the feathers 

 of a turkey in the middle of a wide street ; the ventrilo- 

 quistic laugh of the coyote had been heard over the 

 arroyo, at San Rafael, and the time seemed auspicious. 



For a mile the horses walked to the south, reaching 

 a point midway to the Mission Hills from Pasadena, then 

 turned into the fields, which were open and clear to the 

 San Marino vineyard, two miles distant. Here a stop 

 was made and saddles re-cinched. When a clever Cali- 

 fornia horse is cinched, he takes a long breath and re- 

 sists, and as soon as the rider is mounted he " shrinks " 

 to a remarkable degree ; hence a second or often a 

 third cinching is necessary before a long run. 



The master of the hounds was now fifty feet ahead 

 with the hounds, and the hunt moved on over the 

 alfileria and burr-clover. It was still early, and a slight 

 haze gave a mirage effect that was very deceiving. A 

 buzzard appeared like a roc, and a distant cow loomed 

 up as large as an elephant. Suddenly something else 

 appeared and the master of hounds pulled rein. About 

 three hundred feet ahead, standing on a little rise, an 

 object that looked like a gigantic dog was silhouetted 

 against the sky. It stood half turned, its big ears up. 

 Then the hunt moved slowly on, creeping up to it, 

 while it stood and watched, never moving. Soon it 

 resolved itself into a coyote that eyed us with evident 

 contempt, nor did he move until the master of the 

 hounds spoke to the pack and they dashed ahead. 



