That night, Buford escaped. Max saw him struggle under the fence and tear off into the night towards the land of singing coyotes. Buford barked and sang, tumbling through the darkness. He reached the woods and everything grew quiet. Crickets stopped chirping. The mating night hawks ceased croaking. The forest on the edge of the fields hushed and nothing spoke.
Then Max heard Buford give a frightened yelp, then a cry of pain. The coyotes howled high and fierce. Their voices filled the night with a wall of shrieks, which whipped through the fields, and caused the horses to snort.
The commotion woke the human. He turned on the porch light, banged open the screen door, and rushed out of the house to the dog pen. He saw Buford was gone and walked around the pen calling out his name.
The coyotes grew quiet.
The human discovered the trench under the fence and looked out at the forest. He shook his head and returned to his house.
