as Thompson seizes on him as a source of merriment.

"It's Coyote's third expedition into town, an' he's hoverin' about the
New York store waitin' for 'em to figger up his wolf pelts an' cut out
his plunder so he freights it back to his dug-out. Dan an' Texas is
also procrastinatin' 'round, an' they sidles up allowin' to have their
little jest. Old Coyote don't know none of 'em--quiet an' sober an'
p'lite like I relates, he's slow gettin' acquainted--an' Dan an' Texas,
as well as Doc Peets, is like so many onopened books to him. For that
matter, while none of them pards of mine knows Coyote, they manages to
gain a sidelight on some of his characteristics before ever they gets
through. Doc Peets later grows ashamed of the part he plays, an' two
months afterwards when Coyote is chewed an' clawed to a standstill by a
infooriated badger which he mixes himse'f up with, Peets binds him up
an' straightens out his game, an' declines all talk of recompense
complete.

"'It's merely payin' for that outrage I attempts on your feelin's when
you rebookes me so handsome,' says Peets, as he turns aside Coyote's
_dinero_ an' tells him to replace the same in his war-bags.

"However does Coyote get wrastled by that badger? It's another yarn,
but at least she's brief an' so I'll let you have it. Badgers, you
saveys, is sour, sullen, an' lonesome. An' a badger's feelin's is
allers hurt about something; you never meets up with him when he ain't
hostile an' half-way bent for war. Which it's the habit of these yere
morose badgers to spend a heap of their time settin' half in an' half
outen their holes, considerin' the scenery in a dissatisfied way like
they has some grudge ag'inst it. An' if you approaches a badger while
thus employed he tries to run a blazer on you; he'll show his teeth an'
stand pat like he meditates trouble. When you've come up within thirty
feet he changes his mind an' disappears back'ard into his hole; but all
malignant an' reluctant.

"Now, while Coyote saveys wolves, he's a heap dark on badgers that
a-way. An' also thar's a badger who lives clost to Coyote's dug-out.
One day while this yere ill-tempered anamile is cocked up in the mouth
of his hole, a blinkin' hatefully at surroundin' objects. Coyote cuts
down on him with a Sharp's rifle he's got kickin' about his camp an'
turns that weepon loose.

"He misses the badger utter, but he don't know it none. Comin' to the
hole, Coyote sees the badger kind o