The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1869-04-23

then, and in the same manner a
, when he came, shows that he did NO
find his pony. A drop of blood ii
the centre of his tracks shows thai
he carried the wolf on his back, anC
the bundle of kinikinic wood he used
for staff for support, and, catching
4 wolf. shows that he had traps out.
But" / asked, how do you know il
is wolf, why not fox, or coyote,
or even deer ~ Said he, "If it had
been fox, or coyote, or any other
small game, he would have slipped
the head OF the animal in his wais,
belt, and so carried it by his side,
and not on his shoulders. Deer are
not caught by traps, but if it had
been a deer, he would not have cross
ed this hig'' hill, but would have
gone back by W ' of the ravine, and
the load would "a. e made his steps
still more totter Ig"
Another IaIisr track we saw
twenty miles vest Of this he put this
serious construction upon "He is
an upper Indian prOwling horse
thief-carried double shot gun,
and is rascal that killed some white
man lately, and passed here one
week ago; fOr,'' said he, "a lone
Indian in these parts is on mischief,
and generally on the look out for
horses. He had on the shoes of
white man whom he had IN all prob
ability killed, but his steps are those
of an Indian. Gong through the
rayine, the end of his gun hit into
the deep snow. A week ago we had
a very warm day, and the snow being
soft, he made these deep tracks
ever since it has been intensely cold
weather, which makes very shallow
tracks" | suggested that perhaps
he bought those shoes. ''Indians
don't buy shoes, and if they did, d,they
would not buy them as large as these
were, for Indians have very small
feet.' The most noted trailer OF this
country was Paul Daloria, u half
breed, who died under my hands, of
Indian consumption, last summer.
At one time | rode with him, and
trailing was naturally the subject OF
our conversation. / begged to trail
with him an old track over the prai
rie in order to learn its history. /
had hardly made the proposition,
when he drew up his horse, which
was at Tavine, and said, swell,
here is an old elk track. Let US get
off our horses and follow it," We
followed it but Few rods, when he
said it was exactly month old, and
made at two o'clock in the afternoon.
This he knew, as then we had our
last rain, and at the hour named the
ground was softer than at any other /,
time. The track before us was then |
made. lie broke up here and there
clusters of grass that lay in the path
of the track, and showed me the dry
ends of some, the stumps of others,
and by numerous other similar items,
accounted for many circumstaneesl
that astonished me. We followed
the trail over a mile Now and then
we saw that a wolf, fox, and other
had practiced their trailing
instincts on the elk's tracks. Here
and there he would show me where
a snake, rat, and praririe dog had
crossed the track. Nothing had
followed. or crossed the track that
the quick eye of Daloria did not
detect. He gave an account OF the
habits of all the animals that had
left their footprints on the track,
also of the state of the weather since
the elk passed, and the effect of sun.
shine, winds. aridity, sand, storms
and other influences that had besr-
ing on these tracks. ...-lz
The old man, like all trailers, was
reticent, but on this occasion, seeing
that was interested, became espec-I
tally communicative. 05 r--I
DIR. HACuENBERG.