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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