, 1879-07-03
An Exciting Wolf Hunt.

l we'll remember the morning we
started after that wolf. 1t was an old
she.wolf, and she had been doing mis-.
chief for more than II year 1t was
about the Goth Of April.
She had been about the farms the
Fall before, as dozen sheep and one
calf had been found throtted. Deer
had come out of the woods and Joined
the cattle in the pastures-through
fright, it seemed, at having been pursued.
During the Winter, 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 snatchins at some meat
scraps that had been thrown out
As soon Us the snow was of and the
cattle had been turned out again, the
wolf renewed its depredations. The Sec
ond night our sheep were out, three were
killed and partly eaten; and only two
nights after this Il neigLboring farmer
lost four. That same afternoon, too, one
Of Mr.. Murch's (another neighbor) cows
came to the barn worried and bloody, as
if she had been attacked by some wild
animal.
"It is that wolf" everybody said;
and the following morning six Of US
turned out to hunt it down.
Besides my cousin George and me,
there were Willis Murch, Ned Wilbur,
and young fellow named Walt Evans.
Evans was cousin Of the Murch boys,
and was up from Portland to visit them
that Spring AL Churchill, a boy who
worked for us, was another Of the party.
Grandfather was too old for such a
chase; Mr.. Wilbur was sick; and Wits
father was not living. The business Of
the farm fell largely to us boys, and we
thought it belonged to us to rid the
neighborhood Of that wolf.
remember carrying double-bar.
relied duck gun, both barrels loaded with
B. B. shot and bullet. George had an
old Sharpe's carbine. Walt Evans car.
ried, besides his gun, a policeman's
"billy" and q knife in belt. Ned and
Willis both had guns, but AL Churchill
had nothing but an axe.
We were q warlike party, so far as
weapons went, and We were determined
to hunt the wolf down.
George and l then owned two bounds.
One Of them, "old Jim," was big saw.
age fellow. We took him with us.
Wits took along his fox.hound, too, and
Mr. Wibur's watch dog, "Beave," came
on after us.
We went first to the pasture where
Mr.. Wilburs sheep had been killed.
The spot was a little hollow near a grove
Of willows and alders.
Tho sheep had been lying there to be
out Of the way 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 to.
gether
One Of the sheep had been dragged
into the thicket and partially eaten.
Old Jim snuffed eagerly about it.;
then, with a loud, fierce challenge, he
bounded off OH the VOLTS track. The
other hound and Beave followed.
You may be sure that six more ex.
cited boys never set of after the
hounds. We ran through the brush
after them, down into swamp, crossed
q 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 near shooting AL in the legs. that
we settled down to more cautious and
steady pace.
The hounds, Of course, soon left us
behind. But we followed on, guided
by their loud baying.
The old wolf 5 lair was nearer than
we had supposed it to be. We had not
gone much more than mile til, ough the
thick forest, when we heard Old Jim
give q prolonged howl. The steady bay.
ing had ceased
they've run the old brute into some
ledger cried Wits.