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page 6
i n — roiuht 01 i iZEN
Red Bird’s Adventure
( Continued from page three ) ^
barely wide enough for the coyote,
mother to puss across, and had the,
animal wisely thought to dig a
way to safety she could not have ■
done so, for there was not room j
enough at the hole for her to turr:,
her body and use her paws effect- j
ively in action. ,
The situation was plain enough..
The coyote—after the caving—had I
sought to save her kits. When she |
found that she could not leap the
distance thus handicapped, the*
anxious creature had summoned her
mistress, whom she might follow
her instincts and rear a family in j
the wild way. ,
Evidently Yikyak had expected*
help in some way, but at this fresh
caving of the bank she gave up
and slunk into her shallow niche,
where she lay with nose between
her paws and with ears drooping
despondently.
The young ones, crowded against
the earth, scrambled upon their
mother’s back, where they curled
themselves, unwitting of danger,
and peered curiously at the fright
ened little girl with the yellow
waist, the blue skirt and the brown,
anxious face.
Although much alarmed for her
own safety, Red Bird had no mind
to abandon those baby coyotes
without an effort to save them. She
turned carefully upon her narrow
. perch and tossed the one she held
up to the shelf of of bank above
her head.
Then the girl took several steps,
hugging the embankment until the
rim of earth on which she walked
was so uarrow she could advance
no farther. By the most careful
management, she was now able to
stoop forward and reach the nearest
young coyote.
She secured it, but as she worked
her way cautiously back war d,
dizzy with her effort and with the
whirl of waters below, the kits
behind her came scrambling down,
dodged between her feet and took
refuge with its dam.
It was in vain that Red Bird
rescue the looltsh little
She could by no means
of more than one at a
each would follow her
tried to
creatures
get hold
time, and
buck, darting past her feet on the
wider margin of the earth rim.
They knew no other refuge than
their dam and their den.
Red Bird considered. It was
plain to her that ouly Yikyak
could take those young ones away
and make them stay. But the
coyote could not jump over her—
Red Bird-to get up on the bank,
even if she could be coaxed out of
her nest. The little ones had easily
slipped be ween her feet, but the
old one could not, and Yikyak evi
dently knew it.
Then a thought came with an
electric shock—she, Red Bird,
could not get up the bank! Now
throughly frightened, she turned
to try. A brief effort assured her
that by no means, save by digging
steps, could she climb to safety.
She tried her fingers in frantic
effort to make holes i n the hard
gumbo soil of the sh e lf; but how
ever succeeded only in hurting her
hands. She owed her momentary
safety indeed to the hard adhesive
ness of that slate-colored clay,
which did not succumb easily to
the encroaching water.
The young Sioux girl leaned
against that steep and hopeless
ascent and buried her face in her
arms. But even as she tried to shut
the rumble a tl d noise out of her
mind, she could feel the jarring of
the flood eating away bank beneath
her feet.
Suddenly, as she leaned against
the bank, the mother coyote came
out of her nest, sprang upon Red
Bird’s shoulders and scrambled to
the bench above.
“Help me, Yikyak! Help me
up, too!” wailed the frantic girl,
stretching up her hands.
The coyote looked down, anx
iously whining but she peered
over the little girl’s head, calling
imperatively to her young ones.
Then, seeing that her kits would
not come, Yikyak turned her nose
to the sky howled mournfully.
Red Bird was now so filled with
terror that she dared not turn her
face to the cave, much less help
the mother coyote to secure her
young.
Her instinct, like that of the
despairing creature about her head,
told her that another portion of
the bank was about to give way.
The frightened girl leaned forward
hugging the bank and staring up
ward hopelessly. The mother coyote
continued to howl and yelp at
intervals, snrilly and dismally.
Thus a terrible half hour passed ;
then, above the loud roar of the
river and close at hand, Red Bird
heard the sharp report of a gun
and a queer singing sound directly
in her ear. In the same instant she
saw the yelping coyote on the
bank drop out of sight.
There was a quick flurry of dust
above, and then one of the animal’s
feet stiffened slowly out into her
line of vision, and Red Bird knew
that Yikyak was dead.
This meant a quick rescue for
herself, and yet grief mingled with
her pet, when the face of Saw Tree
a half-crying horse-herder, appear
ed i bjve the basin.
Without a word the stolid
“wrangler” reached his gun-stock
down to Red Bird, and drew htr
to a place of safety.
Saw Tree had heard the coyote
barking when he passed to look
for horses, and had crawled near
for his shot, naturally supposing
that the wolf was a wild one.
He was a simple, good matured
man, and under no circumstance
would he have killed Red Bird’s
pet could he.have seen and under
stood the situation.
His coming had been none too
soon, lor while he and Red Bird
stood debating as to how they
might get the young coyotes, an
other large piece of bank slid into
the river, and Yikyak’s j’oung
ones went with it.
In some way one escaped being
buried and was seen swimming.
The good-hearted half breed ran
around on the bluffs and, descend
ing to the river, succeeded in catch
ing the bedraggled little creature,
w hich Red Bird, forgetting sorrows
and dangers, carried home in
triumph to take the place of
Yikyak.
The little I have seen of the
world teaches me to look upon the
errors of others in sorrow, not in
anger. When I take the history of
one poor heart that has sinned and
represant to myself the struggles
and temptations it has passed
through, the brief pulsations of
joy, the feverish inquietude of
hope and fear, the pressure of
want, the desertion of friends; I
would fain leave the erring soul of
my fellow men with him from
whose hands it came.
—Longfellow.
HAVE YOU A LITTLE FUTURE uTIZEN Y'MJR HOME 7—WELL. YOU SHOULD
