The Red Coyote

# THE RED COYOTE: LUPAH, THE FLOWER OF THE PRAIRIE

The Red Coyote, serialized by Albert W. Aiken, opens in 1800 in the frontier village of Serie near the Gila River, during Spanish colonial rule of Mexico. The narrative centers on Manuelita Torrejon, an eighteen-year-old woman of striking beauty and the daughter of the wealthy Señor Torrejon. At her birthday fandango celebration, her father gently pressures her to consider marriage, suggesting various suitors—the commandante Miguel and Señor Riva de Morales among them. Manuelita blushes and reveals attraction to an American gold-hunter, whom her father, unexpectedly pleased, approves of. Two men enter the gathering: Don Miguel Castello, the commandante himself, and an unnamed second figure. The narrative sketches the region's violent past with Apache and Comanche raiders, and introduces the Mestizo brigand leader Red Coyote, who has recently emerged as a significant threat in the frontier mountains.