Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-09-10

| The sound came from a wooded val
! ley winding down between the hills It
| ,Gs something like the wind. high and
| thin, but By and by getting loud and
| fierce and awful. as If lot more
| voices were joining in: and just tell
| you my heart stopped beating FOR a
| minute The cattle heard it, you'd
| better believe. and punched together,
| kind Of shiveriug. Then two or three
| young hsifers started 10 bolt but the
f, old ones knew better, and hooked
| them back into the crowd Then il
1 flashed over me all at once- You see.
/ was quite q reader. having plenty OF
| time N the long winters. Says I 10
| Teddy with a kind of q sob in my
| throat: y guess i must be wolves !
| thought So said Teddy, getting brave
| after his first start And then. not a
| quarter OF mile away, we saw little
pack of gray brutes dart out OF the
| woods into the moonlight I grabbed
| Teddy by the hand and edged IN among
the cattle.
| Lets get up a tree" said Teddy.
| OF course we will said l, with a
/ new hope rising in my heart We
| looked about for a suitable tree in
| which we might take refuge, but our
| hopes sank when we saw there was not
| a deoent-sized tree in reach Father
| had cleared of everything along the
/ river bank except some Indian willow
! scrub. not six feet high
II the cattle now had scattered for
| home guess it would have been all up
! with Teddy and NE. and father and
mother would have been mighty lone
\
suppose the critters did? When they
saw those gray things just lengthening
I! themselves out across the meadow the
| old cows and the steers made regular
circle. putting the calves. with me and
Teddy-in the center. They backed in
onto Us pretty tight and stood with
| their heads out and horns down for all
the world like company OF militia
forming square 70 receive a charge Of
cavalry. And right good bayonets they
made, those long, fine horns Of our
cattle.
To keep from being trodden on
/ Teddy and ! got onto the backs Of a
couple OF yesTlings, who didn't like II
any too well. but were packed in so
tight they couldn't help themselves As
the wolves came streaking along
through the moonlight they set up
again that awful shrill wind-like,
swelling howl. and I thought of all the
stories I had read OF the wolves of Rus
sia and Norway and such countries; and
the thought didn't comfort me much. l
didn't know what l learned afterward.
that the common wolf of North Amer
lea Is much better fed than his cousin
in the old world, and consequently far
less bloodthirsty. l seemed to see fire
flashing from the eyes OF the pack that
were rushing upon Us. and I thought
their white fsngS, glistening in the
moonlight were dripping with the
blood Of human victims
II expect father'I hear that noise
whispered Ted. and he and Bil'-that
was the hired man-'will come with
their guns and save Us"
Yes said I scornfully, I suppose
you'd like them TO come along now, and
get eaten mp ny the wolves
Il was mighty sorry afte-ward for
speaking that way, for it near broke
Teady's heart However. sobbing a bit,
the little fellow urged in self-detense:
Why. there's only five wolves anyway.
and Father and Bill could easily kill
them,
1T was true There were Just five Of
the brutes. though my excited eyes had
been seeing about ftty-jus: such a
pack as 1 had been used TO reading
about. However. these FIVE seemed
mighty hungry. and now they We're
right onto Us
I guess they weren't used 70 cattle
like ours Fathers old black and white
bull was running the affair that night.
and he stood facing the attack. The
wolves never halted. but with their
red tongues hanging out and their
narrow jaws swapping ike fox traps,
they gave a queer nasty gasp that II
makes my blood run cold TO think OF.
and sprang right onto the circle of
horns
We heard the old bull humble some
thing away down in his throat, and he
sort OF heaved up his hind quarters and
pitched forward. without leaving the
ranks The next thing we saw, one of
his long horns was through the belly
OF the leader wolf, and the animal was
tossed up into the air, ye!ping like a
kicked dog. He came down with a
thud and lay swapping at the
grass and kicking: while the
other four. who had been repulsed
more or less roughly. drew back
and eyed their fallen conrade with an
air OF disapp-oval. l expected to see
them jump upon him and eat him at
once. but they didn't: and l began TO
di>tru>t the stories I had read about
wolves 1t appeared, however, that il
was not from any sense OF Gecency that
they held back. but only that they
wanted beef rather than wolf meat as
we found little later.
Presently one OF the four slouched
forward and shifted at his dying COM
rade. The brute was still lively. how
ever. and snapped his teeth yiciously at
the others legs. who thereupon
slouched back 20 the pack After a
moment OF hesitation the four stole
silently. in single file, round and
round the circle. turning their heads SO
as 10 glare AZ Us all the time, and
looking for a weak spot 70 attack
They must have gone round Us half a
dozen times, and then they sat down
on their tails and stuck their noses in
the air. and howled and howled for
maybe FIVE minutes steady. Teddy and
I. who were now feeling sure our crit
tiers could lick any number OF wolves,
came TO the conclusion the b-utes
thought they had too big JOB on their
hands and were signaling for more
forces Let EN- come. exclaimed
Teddy. But we were getting alto
gether too confident as we soon found