Hour of the Hunter by Jance J. A

Author:Jance, J. A. [Jance, J. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, thriller, Suspense, Crime, Adult
ISBN: 9780380711079
Amazon: 0380711079
Goodreads: 462976
Publisher: Avon
Published: 1991-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

THEY SAY IT happened long ago that some quail were out eating during the harvest. Coyote crept Tup on them and ate them all except for one small quail who hid himselfunder the thick flat leave's of Ihbhai, of Prickly Pear. The frightened quail waited while Coyote ate up all his brothers and sisters. When it was safe, Quail ran home crying, "Coyote has eaten us all. He has eaten all my brothers and sisters."

One wise old quail heard this and decided to get even.

He waited until one day when Coyote was sound asleep.

He cut Coyote open and took out some of his tail fat, then Quail sewed him back up, filling the empty space with rocks. After that, Quail flew off somewhere, started a fire, and began roasting the fat.

Coyote woke up and sniffed the air. '7 smell something good," he said.

He started to follow the smell, but as soon as he moved, all the rocks inside him began to rattle. The sound made Coyote very proud. "That is the sound of my medicine drum," he said.

Rattling all the way, Coyote walked until he found the place where the quail were having their feast. "Your food smells good, Little Brothers.

Let me have a taste."

They gave him some, and Coyote liked it. "Where did you get this meat?" he asked.

"Way over there," Quail said. "Beyond the mountains.

Baskets are traded for it."

Coyote set off to go get some meat of his own, but as soon as he left, he heard the quail laughing and saying, "Look, Coyote has eaten his own tailfat."

Coyote came back. "What did you say?" he asked, but the quail wouldn't answer. Just then a cottontail came running by. "What did the quail say?" Coyote asked.

"They said, 'Coyote has eaten his own tailfat."

As soon as he heard this, Coyote knew he had been tricked, and he was very angry. He chased after the quail, who disappeared down a hole in which they had hidden a cactus all wrapped in feathers.

Coyote dug in the hole after them. When he pulled out the first quail, he asked, "Did you do this to me?"

"No," the quail answered. "It wasn't me."

Coyote dug further and pulled out another quail.

"Did you do this to me?"

"No," the second quail answered. "It wasn't me." And so it went until he pulled out the very last one.

"Did you do this to me?"

But the last quail didn't answer. "Ah-ha," said Coyote, since you don't answer me, you must be the one," and he bit hard on the quail, but he only hurt himself because that last quail was really the cactus.

And that, nawoj, is the story of how Quail tricked Coyote.

Andrew Carlisle was in no hurry to get home. Avoiding the freeway, he drove up the back way from Tucson to Tempe, coming into town through Florence junction and Mesa. He stopped at the Big Apple for 'a late breakfast.

As usual, the previous night's exertions left him feeling wonderfully alive and ravenously hungry.

He had been out of prison for only two days.

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