(Ruineb CoConp 



a block of granite. He was on my right, about one 

 hundred feet away and about an equal distance 

 from the shore of the nearest pond. He was in- 

 terested in the approach of something. With a 

 nervous switching of his tail he peered eagerly 

 forward over the crown of the ridge just before 

 him, and then crouched tensely and expectantly 

 upon his rock. 



A pine tree that had escaped the fire screened 

 the place toward which the lion looked and where 

 something evidently was approaching. While I 

 was trying to discover what it could be, a coyote 

 trotted into view. Without catching sight of the 

 near-by lion, he suddenly stopped and fixed his 

 gaze upon the point that so interested the crouch- 

 ing beast. The mystery was solved when thirty 

 or forty beavers came hurrying into view. They 

 had come from the ruined Moraine Colony. 



I thought to myself that the coyote, stuffed as 

 he must be with the seared flesh of fire-roasted 

 victims, would not attack them ; but a lion wants 

 a fresh kill for every meal, and so I watched the 

 movements of the latter. He adjusted his feet 

 a trifle and made ready to spring. The beavers 



161 



