surely did. The Coyotes hid in the willows. Then Saddleback, the bold
and swift, walked openly toward the Sheep and barked a loud defiance.
The Collie jumped up with bristling mane and furious growl, then, seeing
the foe, dashed straight at him. Now was the time for the steady nerve
and the unfailing limbs. Saddleback let the Dog come near enough
_almost_ to catch him, and so beguiled him far and away into the woods,
while the other Coyotes, led by Tito, stampeded the Sheep in twenty
directions; then following the farthest, they killed several and left
them in the snow. In the gloom of descending night the Dog and his
master laboured till they had gathered the bleating survivors; but next
morning they found that four had been driven far away and killed, and
the Coyotes had had a banquet royal.

[Illustration] The shepherd poisoned the carcasses and left them. Next
night the Coyotes returned. Tito sniffed the now frozen meat, detected
the poison, gave a warning growl, and scattered filth over the meat, so
that none of the band should touch it. One, however, who was fast and
foolish, persisted in feeding in spite of Tito's warning, and when they
came away he was lying poisoned and dead in the snow.

[Illustration]




V.


Jake now heard on all sides that the Coyotes were getting worse. So he
set to work with many traps and much poison to destroy those on the