Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1891-09-17

thin. but By and by getting loud and
nerce and awful. as If = lot more
voices were joining in; and ! Just tell
you my heart stopped beating for q
minute. The cattle heard IL. you'd
better believe, and punched together.
kind Of shivering. Then two or three
young heifers started to bolt but the
old ones knew better. and booked
them back into the crowd Then 80
dashed over me all At once. You see.
] was quite q reader. having plenty Of
time in the long winters SAYS / 20
Teddy. with n kind of a sob in nv
throat: I guess I. must be wolves I
thought 80. said Teddy. getting brave
after his FIRST start And then. not a
quarter Of a mile away. VIC saw a little
pack OF gray brutes dart out OF the
woods into the moonlight grabbed
Teddy by the hand and edged in among
the cattle.
Lets get up a tree said Teddy.
"%Of course we will said I. with n
new hope rising in my heart We
looked about for n suitable tree in
which we might take refuge. but our
hopes sank when we saw there was not
a ~deceni-sized tree in reach Father
had cleared OF everything along the
river bank excep, some Indian willow
scrub, not six lee high
IL the cattle now had scattered for
home I guess il would have been all up
with Teddy and me. and father and
mother would have been mighty lone
some on the farm But what do you
suppose the critters did7 When they
saw those ray things just lengthening
themselves out across the meadow the
old COWS and the steers made a 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 Ike a company Of militia
forming square 20 receive = charge OF
cavalry And right good bayonets th-v
made. those long. fne horns Of our
cattle.
To keep from being trosden on
Teddy and ! got onto the backs Of a
couple Of yezrlingS who didn't like IL
any too well. but were packed in so
tight they couldn't help themselves A.
the wolves came .trrAkinx aIonx
through the moonlight they >et up
again that awful shrill. wind-like.
swelling howl and I thought Of all the
stories | had read Of the wolves of Rus
STA and Norway and such countries: and
the thought dian't comfort me much. |
didn't know what | learned afterward
thai the common wolf of North Amer
lea is much better fed than his cousin
in the old wc-:t. and consequently far
less b~loodthirsty. | seemed 10 see fire
flashing from the eyes of the pack that
were rushing upon us. and I thought
their white faag% giiSteninx in the
moonlight. were dripping with the
blood Of human victims
Il expect fathern hear that noise.
whispered Ted. and he and BiIr-tha.
was the hired man-'wil eome with
their gun and ave US,
Yes. said scorufuIly. I uppose
you'd like them to come along now. and
get eaten mp by the wolves
II was mighty sorry afterwari for
speaking tina, way. for il near broke
Teddy's heart However. sobbing a BIT.
the little fellow urged in self-defense:
Why. there's only Eve wolves
and Father and BIN could easily kin
them
1T was true. There were Just five Of
the brute> though my excited Eyes had
been seeing about fftv-just snch a
pack a. | had been used To reading
about However. these ave seemed
mighty hungry, and now they were
right onto u
4 guess they weren't used 70 cattle
Ike urS Fathers old black and white
bull was running the affair that night.
and he stood facing TIE attack The
wolves never halted. but with their
red tongues hanging out and their
narrow jaws swapping like fox traps,
they gave a queer nasty gasp that il
makes nv 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
ser, of heAved mp his hind quarters and
pitched forward. without leaving the
ranks The mex thing we saw. one of
his long horns was through the belly
of \ leader wolf. and the animal was
tossed up into the air, yelping 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 eomrade with an
air of disapprovaL l expected To see
them jump upon him and eat him AT
once, but they didn't; and began 10
distrust the stories | had read about
wolves IL appeared. however. that il
was not from any sense of decency that
they held back. but only that they
wanted beef rather than wolf meat a.
we found a little later.
Presently one OF the four slOuehed
forward and shifted at his dying CON
rade- The brute was still lively. how
ever, and snapped his teeth viciously AZ
the others legs. who therenpou
slouched back to the pack After a
moment of hesitation the four stole
silently, In single file. round and
round the circle. turning their heads 80
as 10 glare At u all the time. and
looking for a weak spot 10 attack.
They must have gone round Us half =
dorm times and then they sat down
on their tails and stuck their noses in
he air. n howled and howIed for
maybe i've minutes steady. Teddy and
l. who were now feeling sure our crit
terS could lick any number of wolves
came To the conclusion the brutes
thought they had too big a 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
ont