The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1871-01-26
Hunting Wolves in Russia.

I
the trap, the pitfall, the inseparable
topor, or short axe, deadly weapon 10
such hand; but the programme of a
regular 'wolf huut" in the provinces
is always the same. At tsou.e abnormal
hour ''hetween the night and the day !"
you are aroused (almost, as it seems,
before you are well asleep from rough
couch in one of tho little log huts of
some outlying village, by violent shake
OF the shoulder, and hoarse voice ad
monlshiag you to 'get up, and look
sharp about it for there's no time to
lose" You rake a hasty toilet, and
sallYing forth, see in front of the hut
in the dim light Of the coming morning,
huge dark, shapeless mass (which, as
your eyes get used to the darkness, as
sumes the form of broad, heavy three
horse sledge, with very high sides, not
unllkean enormous washing tub, )arouud
which are fitting three or four spectral
hgures with lanterns, the fitful glare
making their grim bearded faces look
grimmer aud less human than ever.
Guns, ammunition, haversacks, are stow
ed away in the bottom of the conveyance
aud (last, not least) young pig /;
your query respecting which elicits from
the leader ofthe par only the oracular
answer that it'll come in hand by-and.
by; and all being now ready, the hun.
ters squeeze themselves into their pla.
ces, the driver shakes his reius with a
"Wo.o-ci y and away we 90 into the
darkness. Mile after mile of the frozen
waste goes by like dream till at length
spectral shadows of the forest slowly
gather round us, and the squeals Of our
unlucky pig (whose ears one Of our party
in now pinching lustily) begin to be
answered By another sound, which no
one who has once heard it will easily
forget--not the long melancholy howl
wherewith supperless wolfmay be heard
bemoaning himself on the outskirts Of
Moscow, almost any night in the week,
but quick snarling, as ofone who sees
his dnuer coming, and wishes to hasten
the bringer of IL. And there they come
at last, the gaunt, wiry, slouching fel-
lows, with their bushy tails, and fiat
narrow heads, aud yellow, thievish,
murderous eyes There is, perhaps,
nothing on earth more thoroughly mean
aud hateful hooking, at first sight, than
the genuine Russian wolf; but the ras
cal has certain picturesqueness Of his
own, Notwithstanding, though of disa.
greeable kind. There is something
grand in the logged aud sinister tena.
city of its pursuit; coming on, with
head thrown forward, and sharp white
fangs unsheathed, untiringlj and unre-
lentingly, like hunting Fate.
"with his long gallop, which can tire
The hounds deep hate and hunters fire."
But there is no leisure for moralising
nowj for the wolves are almost level
with our sledge, and it is time to let fly
Bang The foremost of the pack rolled
over on his side, kicking convulsively !;
but the rest gallop on, unheeding
Bangi bang! aud two more fell dead
blotting the snow around them with
smear OF dull crimson. Some of the,
bcldest parsuers swarm up to the sledge,
and attempt to leap over the encircliug
barrier while we hammer them with
the but.ends Of our pieces, and chop at
their paws with hatchets, aud slash
them across the eyes with hunting.
knives = the two hindmost Of our
party meanwhile cracking at them over
our shoulders as fast as they can load
So for d time the running fight goes
fiercely on, making altogether very
striking lableau. The white skeleton
tracery Of the frozen forest; the long
snaky line of the pursuing pack, shad.
owy and spectral, as if bodied of the
mist from which it emerges the wirling
figures Of the foremost wolves amid the
tossing spray Of snow and curling clouds
of blush smoke; the ceasless fash Of
the busy rifles; the steaming horses,
urged to their utmost speed; the dri.
yer, with his broad sallow face all ablaze
with excitement, shaking the reigns, and
hanging forward to ply the whip; the
huge, cumbrous sledge, rocking and
reeling over the snow with its freight
Of struggling forms, all this seen 10 the
dim, uncertain light Of the early dawn,
has weird and ghostly appearance
suggestive of an attack of goblin high
waymen upon one Of those phantom
mail coaches in which the bagman's
uncle made that marvellous journey
which so much astonished Mr.. Pickwick.
But "the pace is too stiff to last" as
our leader observes with knowing grin.
A run Of full speed through half.frosen
snow tries the ieetofeven a full grown wolf
tooseverely to be continued beyond Ger.
tain time aud, in the face Of stout re-
sistance, the beasts inherent cowardice
is sure to come to the surface sooner or
later. Already three or four gaunts
shaggy.haired veterans, who had proba.
bly, made good supper overnight, be.
gin to hang back, as if doubling the
wisdom Of risking their lives for q hy-
pothetical breakfast /; the speed Of the
rest slackens by degrees; and at length
the whole pack drop, of, as if by tacit
agreement leaving US to pass our way
unmolested. AS we emerge again into
the open plain, across which the first
beams Of the rising sun are just begin.
ming to fall, we see the last Of our grim
followers sinking away like a belated
spectre into tho ghostly shadows Of the
forest that we have quilted.
| ------& -