BRUNO, MY PET COYOTE 



red hair, which covered her loose skin. She 

 had a head like a fox. Her nose was sharp- 

 pointed and her eyes were yellow, bordered with 

 black eyelids. 



She was very shy at first and remained in her 

 house, half covered with dirt, for hours at a time, 

 without ever noticing me or the food I placed 

 in front of her kennel for her. When I would 

 try to pull her out by the chain she would growl 

 and snap at me. In a short time, however, she 

 learned to know that I loved her, for animals 

 know as well as human beings when they are 

 truly loved. It was not long before she would 

 come out of her kennel and jump and pull at her 

 chain as soon as she heard my voice or noticed 

 my footsteps. 



The State was paying two cents each for 

 gophers' pelts. I owned six steel traps, pur- 

 chased with money I had earned the year be- 

 fore, selling radishes, onions, and bouquets of 

 wild flowers to people in the hotel of the county 

 seat, a small town some six miles away. I set 

 these traps at night, baited with corn and placed 

 them in the great cornfields around our home. 

 In the morning I found three dead gophers, two 

 ['5] 



