The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-01-12
A HUNTERS THRILLING RIDE
DenA.-I


 n incident related by Mr lanes Austin. Just in from Cheyenne Ne.ls. gs9tes iha, the popular ldea thu. game IS hasd to ind in ,ha, state. and that wolves are things of the past, Is fallacy. Said MT. Austin At the station. which IS a collection of cabins occupied by ranch men and those employed putting down ;he government well. are number oi wealthy young men from the east who afe engaged m d hunting expedition We started last Thursday morning and rode f.e east then north east. until. when eighteen miles out We dis, oSefed in the distance an immense herd of buffalo. Thinking to accomplish more. we scat tered. with the intention of cireling them. oi at least turning them from their course In this we were not successful, as night overlook us before we had 'downed' a single bull. had singled ou, one that had become separated from the rest of the herd. and had followed him some dis tance when 1t became too dark to see. and discovered tha, had lost my com panions There being nothing else to do, and as II would be impossible to md my way Tn the dark, 1 resolved to camp where was. So. unrollng the hide lanat, secured the animal to some stout sage brush. and, ai.er building a small nte of grass and brush, rolled ms self in my blanket and prepared to make the best of It. but without much idea of sleep In fact, in spite of the heavy overe oat ani blanket which covered me il was uncom- fortably cold. l lay four hours in a half. waking half -doking state, and Il was per haps midnight when something more ike sleep ovcrcame me. Suddenly | sound the most horrible and blood cufl- hng of any had ever heard seemed to ehli the very marrow Tn my bones To my excited imagination Il seemed ke the shriek oi fily demons. Jumping to my feet, discovered that my ti'e had gone out, leaving but few cEibers: bu. al distance ot perhaps 200 feet nearly forming complete circle around me. was line of bright points sciaiillating like so many diamonds. instantly re. ealized my danger. 1 was surrounded by wolves. To hesitate was death. and mounting my horse, that WAS trembling with fright. drove spurs into h,m. and we darted ott through the only opening m the oordon that nearly surrounded me, and swept across the plains without regard to the direction, my only obieo, being to escape the fangs of my pursu- CTS
 The wolves, as soon as they discov- cred my flight, with renewed howl m ore full of rage and horror than that which had awakened me. started in full cry. and the terrible rare began. 4, the start l gained considerably, as my horse was a good one, and his fright seemed to add to his lightning speed. Miles seemed like feet, and, afer perhaps half-hour passed. upon looking back saw that the distance from the foremost of my pursu- CTS was the same as at the start To keep this distance till daylight seemed my only chance, yet what hopeless chance. No horse could long keep up the terrible strain which mine was enduring. Sud- denly the faithful animal stumbled over low sad dune and fell to his knees. throwing me to the ground. In an in- stant the hungry pack were upon me, and l imagined felt their fangs already buried in my flesh. Fear lent s~iftness to my movements, however, and re- mounted and was of just as the leaders were about 10 bounce upon me. My horse soon began to show the effects of his terrible efforts, and. thinking to gam tune, l threw away the blanket which I had hastily thro~n over the horse a, the hrst alarm. This gave me a slight ad- vantage for the time, as no sooner did it touch the ground than it was torn into shreds by the hungry bru,es. This delay