amusement. He got a large trap of the kind known as "Fox-size." This he
set in the dust as he had seen Jake set a Wolf-trap, close to the
kennel, and over it he scattered scraps of meat, in the most approved
style for Wolf-trapping. After a while Tito, drawn by the smell of the
meat, came hungrily sneaking out toward it, and almost immediately was
caught in the trap by one foot. The boy terror was watching from a near
hiding-place. He gave a wild Indian whoop of delight, then rushed
forward to drag the Coyote out of the box into which she had retreated.
After some more delightful thrills of excitement and struggle he got his
lasso on Tito's body, and, helped by a younger brother, a most promising
pupil, he succeeded in setting the Coyote free from the trap before the
grown-ups had discovered his amusement. One or two experiences like this
taught her a mortal terror of traps. She soon learned the smell of the
steel, and could detect and avoid it, no matter how cleverly Master
Lincoln might bury it in the dust while the younger brother screened the
operation from the intended victim by holding his coat over the door of
Tito's kennel.

[Illustration]

One day the fastening of her chain gave way, and Tito went off in an
uncertain fashion, trailing her chain behind her. But she was seen by
one of the men, who fired a charge of bird-shot at her. The burning,
stinging, and surprise of it all caused her to retreat to the one place
she knew, her own kennel. The chain was fastened again, and Tito added
to her ideas this, a horror of guns and the smell of gunpowder; and this
also, that the one safety from them is to "lay low."

[Illustration]