Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1886-10-06

HOW anu tncn one WOulO SIT uOWn anu
fix his glowing eyes upon me, asin tho
first instance. Nearer and nearer-how
many ! could not tell. And / could
sec nothing of Captain Whitney. and
he did not speak TO me again. AS O
last resort when they pressed me too
closely, l showed the canoe into the
water and padded safe distance from
shore. There was bowling back in
the forest, and in five minutes not
wolf in sight.
Captain Whitney, believing that 1
was in imminent danger, and deter
mining, like the noble man that he
was, to rescue me or share my fate.
had left the protection Of the fire and
taken detour to his left; his purpose
being to join me on the shore. And
now was safe and the wolves upon
his track. / heard him halloo once,
and answered the call. l could de.
tcrminc that he was many rods from
the fire and near the shore of the
pond.
There was then q time of complete
silence, how long time will not pre-
sumo to say seemingly half an hour
really perhaps five minutes. hallooed
many times but received no answer.
Neither was there howl of wolf. The
only voice which woke the echoes of
that hill-bound water was my own.
Were / TO tell what suffered in the
time, should tell so much less than
the truth that forbcar to tell at all.
heard a faint call, and looked to
my right. The rock rose perpendicu-
larly from the water at this point, to
the height OF twenty feet, and then
formed broad shelf. Back of the
shelf there was another rise perpendic.
ular of nine or ten feet, and then the
ground sloped Of into ridge covered
with trees.
Upon this shelf. in the serene moon
light, stood Captain Whitney, and
around him the dark, savage forms OF
the wolves He had on neither hat.
coat nor vest, and even his shirt was
torn to tattcrs. l queried whether he
would leap the precipice, and padded
in that direction to help him, in case
he should venture the feat. saw him
step upon the verge and look over.
while he swung his gun blindly around
him, to keep of the beasts.
1T is death if you leap" said l.,
There were sharp splinters of rock at
the bottom, standing out of the water.
Then he braced his back against the
rock behind him, and fought the battle!
Such battle; and for two hours of
time! One, two, three, four, five,
Il was SO near that could count
them, their long, hungry bodies
and savage eyes. And was the cow
ard to sit in safety, and coolly see the
man dcvourcd by wolvesp Heavens!
that l must confess it! There he stood
upon the rock for two hours of time,
and such time! And there I sat safely
upon the wateri / am sure that no
one can condemn more than / have
condemned myself, but l was paral-
yzed. 1t is. perhaps, well that was,
for moro than likely my inexperience
would have proved my ruin. And yet,
this is q miserable plea, and feel it.
l only know that debated how to help
him, how to reach him, how to make
my rifle available. without also endan-
gering him, and know that rejected
all plans, and sat safely upon the
water.
There was no shricking on tho part
of the Captain, and not the least evil
dence of excitement. l could see that
the stock of his gun was shivcrcd to
atoms, and only the heavy steel barrel
remained in his hands. 1 could see,
also, that there was no blind striking,
but that every blow told when given;
and could see, also, that none were
| given unless necessary.
| Bold, brave hunter! how he fought!
| One, two, three, four. There was
certainly one less now, than at the
beginning of the contest. Would
he master them alp II / did
nothing moro, ! asked this question
very anxiously. Why had the bowling
ceased? And why did not the Cap
tain answer me when spoke to himp
1t seemed so horrible. that a brave man
must contend, single handed and alone,
with so many, and such blood-thirsty
monsters.
Something fell over the prccipice--
struggled family moment, and then
became as still as the stone upon which
| it had fallen. One, two, three. Itw
the body of wolf! could see that it
required less exertion to fight three
than five, and / looked to the end hope
fully.
There was long. long contest, and
the brave hunter began to falter. He
did not strike SO rapidly, nor with such
force, and he even rested the weapon
upon the ground now and then-if
only for the merest moments IL in
the excess of fatigue. He had fought
so long; and still there were three of
the wolves, savage as ever, and he
faltering. Be it said to my credit, that
l raised my rifle, sought the best op-
portunity which l could get and fred.
The smoke cleared away, and there
were three left!
Still the weakness seemed to gain
upon him. I could take in tho whole
spirit of the fight, as l sat there so near
them, and could sec the least variation
in the energy of either the wolves or
the man. / became impressed with
the awful feeling that he was rapidly
failing, and I almost expected each
moment to see him 90 down
among the hungry pack. He
struck SO irresoluteIy, and staggered
from side to side. I even fancied that
his eyes were closed. There seemed to
come over the expression of his coun-
tenancc. a dullncss and vacancy-in
short, he appeared like one fighting
feebly for few minutes of life, not at
all as though he looked or hoped for
victory longer.
struck few strokes with my pad
ddle toward the shore, and was about
to shout to him that IL he would hold
out but for q few minutes, would
stand beside him, when he suddenly
reused himself with the strength of a
lion, threw the whole energy OF his
nowerful frame into n few we'll directed
strokes, and hurled the steel barrel OF
the rifle around him, as though II
were the merest toy, and he giant.
One! Only one left; l could see that
plainly enough. Two had gone down
J under the terrible onset. There was a
moment moro of contest, and nothing
was seen upon the rock. Wolves and
man--all were down out of my sight,