THIRD NIGHT
THE STORIES OF GIDAR, THE JACKAL,
AND COYOTE, THE PRAIRIE WOLF
"To-night," commenced Sa'-zada, "we are to have the interesting life story of the two half-brothers, Gidar and Coyote."
"A thief's tale of a certainty," chuckled Magh.
"In my land, which was Burma, there were none so useful as we," began Gidar. "Not of high repute our mission, perhaps, but still useful, being scavengers; and to this end we are all born with a fair appetite; but useful always, even Bagh knows that. I was Lieutenant to one of his kind—a great killer he was—for a matter of two years. Then he came by way of a dispute with the Men-kind, and they finished him in short order.
"Now, you know, Brothers, our kind have steadily worked southward from India, pushing into new lands from all time, even like the Sahibs, until we are now half down through Burma. It must be a dull land that has not our sweet song at night. If there were but a Pack here now we'd sing you a rare chorus."
"I've heard the song," quoth Bagh; "it's wretched."