Daily globe., 1879-07-13
AN EXCITING WOLF-HUNT.

AN EXCITING WOLF-HUNT.
I we'll remember the morning we start
ed after that wolf It was an old She
wolf, and she had been doing mischief
for more than q year. 1t was about the
Goth Of April.
She had been about the farms the fall
before. AS many as dozen sheep and
one calf had been found throttled. Deer
had several times come out of the woods
and joined the cattle in the pastures
through fright, it seemed, at having been
pursued.
During the winter a large gray wolf
had been seen three or four times near
the logging-camps, ten miles above. One
night man shot at it from his camp
door as it was snatching at some meat
scraps that had been thrown out.
AS soon as the snow was off, and the
sheep and cattle had been turned out
again, the wolf renewed it's depredations.
The second night our sheep were out,
three were killed and partly eaten; and
only two nights after this, neighboring
farmer lost four. That same afternoon,
too, one of Mr.. Murch's-a neigh
bor's-cows came to the barn worried
and bloody, as if she had been attacked
by some wild animal.
"It is that wolf!' every body said; and
the following morning six of us turned
out to hunt it down.
Besides my cousin George and me,
there were Wilt Murch, Ned Wilbur, and
a young fellow named Walt Evans.
Evans was cousin of the Murch boys,
and was up from Portland to visit them
that spring. AL Churchill, boy who
worked for us, was another of the party
Grandfather was too old for such a
chase; Mr.. Wilbur was sick, and Willis
father was not living. The business of
the farm fell largely to us boys, and we
thought it belonged to us to rid the neigh
borhood Of that wolf
I remember carrying a double-bar-
relied duck-gun, both barrels loaded with
B. B. shot and bullet. George had an
old Sharps carbine. Walt Evans carried,
besides his gun, policeman s'billy''
and a knife in belt. Ned and Wits
both had guns, but Al Churchill had
nothing but an axe. We were warlike
party, so far as weapons went, and we
were determined to hunt the wolf down.
George and I then owned two bounds.
One Of them, "Old Jim,' was big saw
age fellow. We took him with us. Willis
took along his fox-hound, too, and Mr..
Wilbur's big watchdog, "Beave," came
on after us.
Wewent first to the pasture where Mr..
Wilbur's sheep had been killed. The
h11 l. L
OF cedars and elders. The sheep had
been lying there to be out OF the cold.
biting wind, probably. In the dark the
wolf had throttled one after another of
them; for sheep when attacked in the
night, will rarely run far, but stand
huddled together.
One of the sheep had been dragged
into the thicket and partially eaten. Old
Jim snuffed eagerly about it; then, with
loud, fierce challenge, he bounded off
on the VOLTS track. The other hound
and Beave followed.
You may be sure that six more thor
oughly excited boys never set off after
HOUNDS. We ran through the brush after
them, down into swamp, crossed a
muddy brook, and entered the old growth
woods beyond. And it was not till Ned's
gun went off from accidentally hitting the
hammer against stub, and came neal
shooting Al in the legs, that we settled
down to a more cautious and steady
pace.
The hounds, of course, soon left us be-
hind. But we followed on, guided by
their loud baying. The old wolf s lai1
was nearer than we had supposed it to
be. We had not gone much more than
mile through the thick forest when we
heard Old lin give a prolonged howl
The steady baylng had ceased. n
"They've run the old brute into some
ledge!" cried Wits
We hurried on, and came to deem
wooded gully, between two high hills,
down the bed Of which ran brook,
foaming over messy, shaded rocks. The
tracks led up this gully. George was
ahead, and we all followed as fast as we
could run. The hollow grew narrower
with sleeper sides, and fifty rods farther
up we came to what looked to be huge
jam of old stumps, logs and brush, that
filled the whole gully to the height Of
fifteen or twenty feet. Some heavy fresh
ct had lodged it there. The brook
roared and gurgled beneath it.
The hounds stood at the foot OF the
jam of the stumps and brush, near a hole
between two messy logs. They whined
when we came up, and Old Jim gave an.
other long howl. We looked about the
place. There was many bones, old ones
and fresh ones. with bits Of fur and WOO
scattered round
''Here's her den!' exclaimed Ned.
1t was dark, vicious-looking holt
under the old logs. Al and George
climbed over the other side, to see i
there were more holes leading under o.
out. This lower hole was the old VOLTS
only "door," SO far as we could see.
The dogs would go into it few feet
and bark, but they did not seem ove
anxious to come to close quarters with it
occupant. Old Beave charged in at once
and was greeted with savage snarl Fo
moment, we thought there would be