ALONG FOUR-FOOTED TRAILS 



traps sprung, and one trap with the bait still 

 on it. I skinned the three gophers and the 

 bounty they represented was six cents more to- 

 ward the purchase of my winter shoes, with 

 enough breakfast for Bruno and my dog. Bru- 

 no was fed with milk, scraps from the table and 

 grasshoppers, as well as the bodies of the trapped 

 gophers, but the fresh, wild meat she seemed to 

 enjoy most. 



There was plenty of rain that summer and no 

 hot winds or grasshopper plague ; the farmers 

 prospered and all wild animals found abundant 

 food. Bruno grew large and was very tame. 

 One day my mother noticed some feathers 

 around the coyote's kennel and told me she 

 feared Bruno was killing her hens, since two 

 were missing; so we watched. 



One day, late in August, mother and I were 

 sitting behind the plum thicket, near our house, 

 from which point of vantage we could see the 

 coyote but were not seen by her. My mother 

 was telling me of some scenes of her own child- 

 hood when our attention was drawn to Bruno. 

 She was pulling at her chain, scratching and 

 drawing something towards her with her front 

 [16] 



