St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1888-07-14

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broke from the brush to take up the
trail They followed it in full cry.
and we spurred our horses to tho
hillocS. and up its sides to the sum.
NIT to discover tho direction tho vol
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 tho mound. as tho old
wolf had slackened her speed to suit
that Of her young. two of which had
fallen behind and were making thoir
way with difficulty.
che dogs dashed around the hillock
and were quickly clearing the space
between them and the young woive.
that had dropped SO far in the rear
that it was only question Of a few
seconds when the jaws of the lcadi IN g
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 that they were able ia
move even at that speed. The old
wolf could easily have escaped by
abandoning her interesting family.
but. wolf as she was, she was q true
and brave mother. Sho evidently
recognized the fact that the situation
was critical. and she changed her tao
tics in 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 furthcst in the
rear. The winded litter kept on at
tho 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 rs a stone. Tho two young ones
kept on in tottcring 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
OILY one result could be seen 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 wcrc taking. and spell
away over the prairie like . 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 a
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 q short one, as
the wolf wavcrcd in her course, ap-
parenily drawn by her maternal in
stinct back to her abandoned young.
and she gradually turned and bore
back toward the spot where she hail
left them. The dogs headed her on
and before we reached the scene
Of the ensuing conflict tho wolf
had been torn to pieces. but not
before sho had ripped another
Of the pack 10 death. leaving us but
four with which to seek sport the rest
of the day. But the four did excellent
work. for before we sought a wooded.
grassy spot by one Of the most mar
vclous springs l ever saw to eat
luncheon and Whit a pipe tho four
dogs brought us in at the death Of no
less than five immense gray wolves.
1t was while we were lounging about
the spring that an incident occurred
which terminated in the most exciting
event of our cx xtraorlinary days hunt.
I'VE had with us our camp factotom.
= veteran trapper named Latry. who
saw no sport in wolf chase or any
chase. they having no interest. in his
eyes. beyond the pelts they yielded.
Wolf skins were worth two d ollars or
three dollars apiece in those days. and
Latry made business of gathering as
many as he could. He had stripped
the hides from the i've gray wolves
the skin of the she one having been
spoiled by tho dogs much to his dis
gust-and had spread them on the
grass near where wo lunchcd. As We
lay there smoking l saw one of tho
skins slowly moving away. and rising |
up saw an immcnse black wolf which |
had sneaked in upon Us and was steal.
ing the green pelt in lieu Of something |
better for his dinner. Seeing that he |
was discovered the wolf start
ID away. taking the pelt
with him. The dogs were stretched
around on tho grass apparently tired
,ut with their hard morning work. but |
IN = second they were up and away on
he black VOLTS trail as II they had
lot run q rod that day. The wolf
lropped the pclt when he found that
t was hampering him in his run. We
quickly mounted our horses and dashed
.fter the hounds The wolf led tha
logs for six miles over . comparatively
'asy country. and it became apparent
hat in spite Of the agility and fresh
less with which they started on his
rail they wero stiifcncd and winded
They slowly lost ground ON the trsiL
md the wolf ut last turned aad made