The Yellow Horde

d the cunning of his sets. Clearly marked cow trails crossed through every low saddle in the foothills and Collins studded these with traps. After o

oon learned to avoid them. Collins noted the absence of coyote tracks on trails that had once b

s had been filled by new recruits, every one trap-wise to the last degre

suddenly startled by a huge shape that leaped for him and bore him down. None thus attacked lived to spread the warning and the only knowledge the others had of the lur

he customs of centuries and turned their teeth against him. He now wreaked vengeance for this affront. There were no wolves to answer his call

hunted with the yellow wolf and learned the advantages of combined attack in killing heavy game now put that same knowledge to g

atear soon discovered that the teamwork of a pair of fighting coyotes wa

e slayer was craftily trailing him and that killing coyotes was but a side line to lighten the hours of a protracted stalk for Breed himself. Flatear was a veteran warrior and he waited only for an opportunity to attack when he should find Breed alone. Nose and ears kept him apprised of

e the nights fearsome for the coyotes, men f

not fathom. From the first he had found much of mystery in her. She insisted on traveling in broad daylight whenever the notion seized her and she s

, each time from a point nearer to where Breed lay. A band of antelope sped past without following their usual custom of stopping to look back. Breed caught the vibrations of pounding hoofs, the sound of many hard-running horses blended in on

a draw off to the left of Breed's position and raced across the flat. He was stretched out and running his best, but before he had covered two hundred yards five great wolfho

jaws of the foremost dog, and as he turned another struck him. He rolled over twice, and when he gained his feet he faced his enemies. He knew the game was up but he went down fighting,-fighting against odds without a whine; and Breed watched five savage dogs mauling a limp dead thing that ten seconds p

sely, moving furtively and with many backward glances, her tail tucked almost between her legs, and Breed, ac

od in her, and at the first opportunity they had pounced on her with intent to kill. Shady had found friends among the coyotes and had found only hostility among dogs. Savagery is only re

ch chase as the novelty wore off but the days were few when the owner failed to take the dogs out for a run. Wolfhounds run only by sight and coyotes are sl

ed Shady down the bed of a gulch which screened their movements from prying eyes but at the same time served to shut out all the various signs by which Breed received long-range warnings. As they loitered along the bottom of the draw the antelope bands were flashing the danger

nt where he left it; not a sign to warn him of the source of the danger. He ran for the crest of a ridge for a better view,-and the next instant he was in full flight back the way he had come, for

draw widened to blend into a broad mesa and the hounds caught sight of the two wolves as they headed out across the flat. Breed had held his lead but a clean race of over a mile conf

angled slightly and he watched them draw gradually together, their courses converging on

o match for Breed's and he would not leave her. The high-pitched sinister yelps sounded from behind him as the eager dogs closed up, putting forth every effort to end the race before the wolv

nd Shady lost Breed on the first sharp turn and ran on a

lead dog flashed into view without any sound of a fight behind him, Breed knew that his mate

k and cunning. But the hounds pressed him hard. Their speed was greater than his own and each time they lost sight of him they spread out both ways. Whenever he crossed a fl

o the base of the spur but he knew at last that he could not make his goal. His muscles had lost their spring and his breath came i

base of the spur. The mouth of every gulch behind him seemed to belch fort

fficient depth to cover him, but the dogs did not suspect and as they darted on ahead Breed doubled back through the very center of the pack. He ran with the last of his strength, crept from the sheltering coulee and leaped into the center of a heavy clump of sage where he crouched flat and peered out at t

eared as swift-skimming dots in the distance. Then one of them lined out with increased speed