Pax is satiated from the food the night before, and all three of the foxes play together. “Where he had once cared for only one boy, he now brimmed with love for this bristling vixen and her ragged brother. And they were safe” (254). Even Runt is joyful and seems to be pain-free.

The foxes smell something ominous. Bristle screams that it’s a coyote. She and Pax suddenly see a coyote following Runt’s trail. Bristle yells at Pax to guard Runt while she tries to distract the coyote. Pax ignores the instinct to run away because the instinct to protect the foxes he loves is deeper, but he recognizes that a fox is no match against an animal that large.

Bristle attacks the coyote; he injures her, recognizing the ploy and then goes back to Runt’s trail. Bristle intercepts the coyote and lures him away by going up a tree so the coyote will attack her there, and Runt and Pax can get away. Pax realizes she’s only going to be able to hold off the beast for so long before he rips her apart, so Pax runs to rescue Bristle, ordering Runt to stay behind.