As the Indian boy returned to his cave to get food for the young bobcat, there arose the sound of many yapping voices from the sagebrush below.
“News! News for Brother Cho-gay!” came the voices. A thin, sharp-nosed coyote emerged from the edge of the sage and stood a little in the open, as though he feared to come nearer. Then the heads of three or four of his followers were poked from the brush, as though to lend support to their timid leader, and to see the great man-child to whom their remarks had been addressed.
“News is of no use until it is told,” said Cho-gay. “Speak up, Brother Fearful. What is there to tell?”
“Is it not a law among us that if one makes a lie, and tells it against a brother, he shall be punished?” asked Fearful.
“It is a law,” replied Cho-gay. “Who is it that breaks the law?”
“It is Sandy, the red fox, who has made a great lie, saying that he has flown like an eagle from the valley to the top of Skull-top mountain, and that as he left the top to come down, a rock fell and rolled down to the valley. And that our old cousin, Rip, the outcast wolf, who is very brave, ran in great fear, believing that the mountain was tumbling down. So our cousin Rip is made a coward in the eyes of all, because of the lie.”
“Where is your cousin Rip that he does not come to accuse the fox?” asked Cho-gay.
“He and Sandy hunt together, and he is afraid to make Sandy angry. Why, we know not,” answered Fearful.
At the sound of a chuckle from the juniper tree, Cho-gay looked up to see Kaw shaking with laughter. Paying no heed to this, he again spoke to the coyote:
“All know that a fox cannot fly through the air to a mountain top. Go, bring this maker of lies to me and we shall hear his story from his own mouth.”