ADVENTURE WITH A COYOTE. 
HOWARD CARL. 
I had known John from boyhood, had 
gone to school with him, and had hunted 
with him many times. He was a good shot, 
but sometimes missed, as. do some other 
good shots. 
He finally emigrated to California. One 
might have supposed from the record he 
had on rabbits that he would have had 
no trouble shooting coyotes. Just how 
much trouble he had, I learned a few years 
later when I visited him. His wife told 
me the following story: 
“The coyotes had been bothering us 
greatly, scaring and catching our chickens, 
and we would hear them howling around 
nearly every night. John got in the habit 
of looking out of the window the first 
thing on rising to see if there were any of 
the animals in the neighborhood. 
“One morning he looked out just in time 
to see one trot along the back fence and 
disappear behind the barn. Without stop- 
ping for ceremony, or clothes either, John 
rushed out the back door, grabbed his rifle, 
which was in the tank house near, and 
hurried to the barn, expecting to get a shot 
as the coyote came around the corner. 
However, it had been too quick for him 
and was trotting along the foot of the hill 
about 100 yards away. John threw the rifle 
to his shoulder and tried to take aim. The 
coyote stopped before John could fire and 
then started on again. This happened 
twice. Finally John rested the rifle over 
the top of a post and just as the coyote was 
going by his line of sight, pulled the trig- 
ger. 
“He hit him, but so far back that the poor 
animal sat down and began to howl. John 
turned his attention to another coyote 
which he had just seen making for the hills. 
He hurriedly turned up his Lyman sight 
to the 200 mark, but the coyote was so 
unsportsmanlike as to get behind a tree 
and make off with that completely covering 
his retreat. 
“John then started down to finish the 
brute he had wounded, intending to shoot 
it in the head. He got within 50 yards 
when the animal jumped up and ran. John 
fired, saw the dirt fly on the opposite 
side of the coyote and, as it dropped at the 
report, thought the bullet had gone clear 
through the mark. He walked a little 
closer, took aim at the coyote’s head and 
fired. Again the beast jumped and ran. A 
third time John fired and a third time the 
coyote fell. Determined to make a sure 
thing of it, John took aim at its head, in- 
tending to blow its brains out. He could 
not hold steady, but fired as the end sight 
in its movements wabbled by the coyote’s 
head. Up jumped the beast once more, 
and click went the hammer. The magazine 
was empty. 
“John came running back to the house, 
and as he was barefooted and was running 
through stubble, he touched the ground as 
lightly as possible; one would have thought 
him a ballet dancer; an inference borne out 
by the fantastic flutter of his nightgown 
about his legs. When he got to the house 
I gave him his slippers. He hurriedly 
grabbed his remaining cartridges and ran 
back. The coyote had obligingly waited 
for him, but when John drew near it start- 
ed off. John fired and down it dropped; 
he fired once more and the coyote again 
made off. John had thought he could shoot 
a little, but as he ran back to-the house 
the second time, he had about lost confi- 
dence in himself. 
“He hurriedly seized his loading tools, 
loaded 2 cartridges and started back, de- 
termined to end the massacre. When he 
got close to the coyote it wabbled to its feet, 
John stopped and, aiming low behind the 
shoulder, fired and dropped the brute to 
Stay. 
“John didn’t feel much elated but, never- 
theless, he examined his prize. Besides the 
first and the last 2 hits, he found 2 bullet 
holes through one ear, 3 through the other 
and 2 long lines across the top of the ani- 
mal’s head. 
“A few hours later, on picking up his 
rifle he noticed that the Lyman sight was 
elevated for 200 yards. When he goes 
hunting now he always hears a familiar 
voice saying, ‘Don’t forget to elevate your 
sights, John.’” 
Ascum—If “brethren” is a synonym for 
“brothers,” why not 
ters?” 
Henpeck—Nonsense. 
“sis 
- 
I’ve often heard of 
“sistern” for 
a cistern that would dry up occasionally.— 
Catholic Standard. 
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