Adventure Magazine Cover — page 21: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

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Dal wondeged what the animal would do. oe In all his experience with the grim maraud- ers of the desert he had never known them to catch fish, though he had often seen them take to the water, and had seen them pick- ing up dead fish along the shore. From time to time he could hear the plop of some sluggish fish leaping to the surface for a night insect. The coyote came straight to the edge of the pond, and walked slowly back and forth with his sharp ears pricked eagerly forward and his long, bushy tail gently undulating. PZ Finally there was a plop close to the co- | yote, and the marauder rose into the air as gracefully as a kitten. He came down into the shallow water with his back arched high, and the long jaws snapped into the water like the recoil of a steel spring. There was a quick thrashing of the water, then the coyote waded gingerly ashore with the fish in its mouth. Convinced at last that the coyote was no nature-faker, Dal drew a bead on him, no easy feat in the moonlight, and fired. The coyote went down, up, and down again— this time permanently. It was too early in the season for the pelt to be of value, so all Dal had to do was to remove the scalp. Two animals escaped him during the night, but he shot one more coyote, and just before dawn he got a wolf. That meant sixty dollars for one’s night’s work. He knew that it was beginner’s luck, but it was a long, strong step in the beginning of his fight. The next problem was to capture one of the wild horses. It was possible to build ‘a corral close to the water, but it was highly improbable that he could ever get any of the wary mustangs into it. He de- cided that the only practicable way was to get them on their range. Each afternoon thereafter for three or four days—he slept during the forenoon after hunting predatory animals by night— he walked over the rough, coulée-cut foot- hills. He'let Bently think he was searching for the silver mine, but in reality he was looking for the bunch of mustangs and a Pg piace to trap them. ‘end was a sheer wall of rock, and the sides — . ‘took ten coyotes to equal one wolf Dal be- about twenty in sate and he quitk yo picked out the one Vincie had named ie x3 a beautifully dappled gray stallion. Dal fell in love with him at once. The horse — had the sturdy, supple build of the mustang, — but his size and color betrayed the fact that — there was a strain of superior blood in him. “VYou’re my huckleberry, Sport, old- timer, just as sure as shootin’,” Dal called — gleefully the first time he saw the horse. - with a bottle-neck at the outlet. The other — were too steep for a horse to ‘climb without — 4 3 & difficulty. On one side of the bottleneck Dal set a strong cedar post four feet into the ground. Then he borrowed a quart of — salt from their meager table supply and put it just inside the entrance. Further preparations or precautions were very likely to defeat their own object, so day — after day he waited close by in the brush - with his rifle and the two ropes. Some day, — he knew, the salt would attract the horses — and they would enter the box cafion. a ing the hours he was on watch. < The days flew rapidly by, but still he = horses refused the bait. From three o’clock — in the afternoon until midnight Dal watched by the mouth of the box cafion. Then he went back to the pond and waited — for coyotes and wolves until daylight. — Sometimes he got one coyote in a night, = sometimes more—but no wolves. As it — gan to despair of reaching the two-hun- dred-dollar mark he had set for himself by the time their grub supply was exhausted. — — He was sure he would get money enough — from Thad Thompson to redeem old Spot, — eS but it might be several weeks before Thad | could collect it, so he wanted to make sure : by getting sufficient bounties. a _ Almost equally badly he wanted to cap- p- ture the gray wild horse to save himself the , fifty-mile walk into Hog-up when the food | : was gone. ~ Finally Vincie hinted that they were out Ske = coffee and sugar, and that the flour, bacon — and beans would not last more than three — or four days. Dal decided to spend the — entire night at the box cafion, and if noth-— ing happened to strike out on foot for Hog- — up with his burden of eae He now rach ( ¥