Ferndale Union High School - Tomahawk Yearbook (Ferndale, CA)

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As I came up he growled threateninglyg then, as I stood there, a change came over him. I-Ie whine d, and tried to crawl closer to me. I had been recognized. I knelt down beside hm, and he laid his head pitifully on my knee to be stroked. I saw that both of his hind legs were broken. I could do nothing for him, yet I longed to save him and have him once more for mine. I knew he would die, but when? Perhaps he would suffer for days, only to perish in the end. I must end his misery. With that thot I made a move to get up. He rubbed my knee with his head, and laid a poor, mangled paw in my hand. I looked into his pleading eyes and it sickened me to think of killing so true a friend. I laid his head on a low rock, and arose. He watched me dismally, as tho he realized the worst. I loaded the shot gun and, nerving myself, shot him as he was trying to licli a wounded paw. I-Ie never groaned. Very sorrowfully, I carried him back to the place where nobody had disturbed him except myse f, his best friend. , z7nffd4'4 PAGE TWENTY-SEVEN

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we didn't have to go for coyotes that day, as he thot this big beauty was the one that was making all the trouble. No one recognized it, but with a sad feeling I knew it to be my old friend Clip. We left him by the gate, and went in to breakfast. As soon as the meal was over we all went out to see him again, father having decided to have him stuffed and mounted, to keep as a curiosity. But when we got to the gate, there was no coyote in sight, and one of the hired men vowed someone had stolen him. Tracks leading over the ridge told the tale: The dead had come to life, and everybody stood gaping in wonder. I remembered how I had taught him to play dead, but he had never done it so realistically as this. I admired his trick greatly, but as the rest didn't, or didn't let on they did, I said nothing. Clip never troubled the chickens again. One sunny afternoon I was taking a little stroll in search of some quail I was sauntering toward the mound, where Clip had fooled the dogs so many times, when I heard the unmistakable whir of a quail and, looking up from the ground where I had been studying coyote tracks, saw a bunch of quail alight at the lower ledge of the rock, which was covered with small shrubs and scrub firs. I crept cautionsly up the opposite side from the quail, making as little noise as possible. It took me some time to reach the top, as it was rather steep in places. There below me about thirty yards were live or six quail huddled on a flat rock. What a line shot. I was just about to give them both barrels, when a slight movement just below attracted my attention. To my intense surprise it turned out to be an immense coyote, and by certain marks I at once knew it to be Clip. There he lay, basking in the sun, watching the quail as they ran on the rocks below. How I longed to stroke that shaggy, beautiful coat of his, and have him do the tricks I had taught him. But no, he was nothing to me, he would not even know me. Father had offered a splendid automatic shotgun for the one who would kill Clip. Surely this was my chance. I raised the gun quickly, for I was afraid he would discover meg but, as I aimed, I could see the picture of a little, round ball of fur, rolling playfully at my feet. I lowered the gun, half ashamed of myself. Upon reflecting, I could see no reason why he should not be killed, for he was a very great detriment to the surrounding country. I tried again to shoot, but in vain. Always the remembrance of his past atfection stopped my hand. However, something must be done. I might frighten him away. Rais- ing the gun, I fired blindly into the clump of bushes behind which he was hid- den. just below him lay a jump-off of about thirty feet, which in his fright he bounded over. When I reached the bottom, I found him moaning on a bed of sharp stones. PAGE TWINTY SIX

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Origin of the Umbrella Plant Melia Thompson, '11, T CERTAINLY was an eventful day for me All morning I had covered the rather grimy face of my mistress young houses out of the brickish colored dirt I was angrily snatch- ed up closed and thrust into the umbrella case where I ex- pected to stay for the next month or so but to my happy Wifi surprise, after a last look at the charming image reflected in the hall glass, my mistress tucked me under her arm. A blast of wind helped to open the door, and made it a little difficult for me to be raised. However, we both enjoyed the light rain-I, because I was glad to be useful, she, because it brought such a rosy glow to her cheeks. Our pleasure was rather short lived, for a zig-zag streak of lightning her- alded the approach of a burst of thunder. My mistress looked thoughtfully toward home, but did not turn back, though the rain was now falling in blinding sheets. The wind was unmer- ciful, and, just as I was doing my best to protect my mistress, 1 was ruth- lessly snatched away by a terrible gust of wind. My companion retreated beneath a swaying tree, making a very for- lorn picture indeed, but I was swept swiftly by leaps and bounds over the prairie. I became so dizzy, as I whirled around bushes, jumped over rocks and along the ground, that I wished I might be caught by some bush, if it were only to be torn to pieces. At length, worn out from being dragged and mauled about, I settled down near a hillside, along the banks of a turbu- lent stream, not far from my owner. My ribs had been bent and torn from my dress so roughly that I was hardly recognized, and surely of no more use to my dainty mistress. Being entirely beyond repair, she went home without me, when the storm had ceased, greatly to my disappointment. As I was getting chilly, and was now scantily clothed, I snuggled be- neath some loose foliage, and there intended to await the clearing of the skies. But the exhaustion from my long chase caused me soon to fall asleep, not to awaken for a long time. Q :bu 'B lm? . I . , rqlgfj 'W' sister from the intense heat, until the two of us were dis- mg-,U 5:25225 covered--I, lying in the dusty road 5 the little sister making s'5iQa':.G:-stir - - - - ef' If . . ' V, 9 J 1 Qi. 'E 3 A vw PAGE TW!NTY EIGHT