The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1888-06-09

III width' Detween the thicket where
the vol had been started and DOME
IKE, but not steep. mound or hillock.
She dashed straight for the hillock,
n SO swift was her gait that she had
disappeared around 1t before the dogs
broke from the brush to take up the
trail. They followed it in full CRY,
and We spurred our horses to the
hillock. and up its sides to the sum.
nit to discover the direction the wolf
had taken. The killing pace she had
cut out was more than her pups could
maintain. as we discovered on reach
ing the top Of the mound, as the old
wolf had slackened her speed to suit
that Of her young. two of which had
fallen behind and were making their
way with difficulty.
The dogs dashed around the hillock
and were quickly clearing the space
between them and the young wolves
that had dropped so far in the rear
that 1t was only a question Of a few
seconds when the jaws of the leading
hounds of the pack would close upon
them. and their future as prowling
pests would be destroyed. Although
the mother wolf governed her pace to
suit that of those of the litter that kept
by her. it was plain that it was only
by great effort hat they were able to
move even at that speed. The old
wolf could easily have escaped by
abandoning her interesting family.
but, wolf as she was, she was a true
and brave mother. She evidently
recognized the fact that the situation
was critical, and she changed her tao
tics in a surprising manner She sud-
denly turned in her tracks and charged
back upon the hound that led the pack
by several PAGES and was almost upon
the wolf cub that was furthest in the
rear. The winded litter kept on at
the best speed they could make. The
sudden charge of the old wolf took the
hound SO by surprise that before he
could make any show against her at
all she had him by the throat, and
with one terrible snap Of her strong
jaws severed ~windpipe and jugular
vein. and threw the dog from her as
dead as a stone. The two young one
kept on in a tottering way for a
few PAGES and fell exhausted to the
ground. The old wolf, seeing that it
was impossible to revive them, dashed
on again and placed herself in the
midst of the family that was left to
her and by various devices tried to
urge them on and encourage them.
But it was useless. They fell behind
singly and in pairs until only one. with
more vigor than the rest, was left
struggling along with the mother.
% rly one result could be seer from
the situation, but the old wolf resolved
to make one more attempt to SAVE her
young ones. Tho dogs were almost
upon her, and suddenly she struck of
at right angles from the direction her
weary cubs were taking. and sped
away over the prairie like q race
horse, passing the hounds almost under
their noses. She could have but one
design in thus apparently abandoning
her cubs and that was a heroic
measure. She hoped to divert the
dogs from them by leading them in n
chase after herself and she succeeded.
The pack followed her, and now that
the chase was in we dashed after the
hounds. But it was a short one, as
the wolf wavBred In her course, up:
parently drawn by her maternal in
stinct back to her abandoned young.
and she gradually turned and bore
back toward the spot where she had
left them. The dogs headed her off
and before we reached the scene
of the ensuing conflict the vol
had been torn to pieces, but no
before she had ripped another
of the pack to death. leaving us bu'
four with which to seek sport the rest
of the day. But the four did excellent
t work, for before we sought a wooded,
grassy spot by n of the most mar
+ velous springs l ever saw to cat
5 luncheon and Whit a pipe the fou'
dogs brought us in at the death OF NJ
! less than five immense gray wolves
1t was while we were Longing abou
, the spring that an incident occurred
which terminated in the most excitin!
g event of our ex extraordinary day. hunt
I I'VE had with us our camp factotom
t a veteran trapper named Latry, VIII
saw no sport in a wolf chase or an,
t chase, they having no interest, in hi
9 eyes. beyond the pelts they yielded
Wolf skins were worth two d oil ars o
three dollars apiece in those days. an
Latry made a business Of gathering a
many as he could. He had s'rippe
Q the hides from the five gray wolves
Q the skin of the she n having bee
spoiled by the dogs, much to his dis
a gust-and had spread them on til
$ grass near where we lunched. As W
lay there smoking l saw n Of tn
a skins slowly moving away, and risin
n up saw an immense black wolf. whic
Q had sneaked in upon us and was stea'
h ing the green pelt in lieu of somethin
g better for his dinner. Seeing that h
49,