Read "Watched by Wild Animals" by Enos A. Mills online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Nine healthy coyote puppies were playing in the sunshine with all their might. After days of searching I had at last discovered their den. The puppies had not noticed me and I enjoyed watching their training for the game of life. They wrestled, played at fighting, rolled over and over, bit at one another's feet and tails, and occasionally all mixed in one merry heap.
Their mother came along the hillside above the den. She walked back and forth on the skyline where I could not miss seeing her. Then she came nearer and passed within thirty or forty feet of me. I kept my eyes upon the puppies and pretended not to see their mother. She turned and passed still closer to me. This time she was limping badly on one forefoot and holding up one hind foot. She was making every effort to have me follow her -- to lure me away from her home and her puppies.