River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1891-09-17

IL expect fatherll hear that noise
whispered Ted, and he and Biil'-that
was the hired man-'wil come with
their guns and save u.s.
Yes said / scornfully, Il suppose
you'd like them To come along now, and
get eaten mp by the wolves.
Il was mighty sorry afterward for
speaking that way, for it near broke
Teddy's heart. However. sObbing a bit,
the little fellow urged in self-defense:
Why, there's only five wolves anyway,
aud Father and Bill could easily kill
them.
cit was true. There were just five of
the brutes though my excited eyes had
been seeing about fifty-just such a
pack as / had been used to reading
about However, these five seemed
mighty hungry. and now they were
right onto us.
Il guess they weren't used to 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 like fox traps,
they gave a queer nasty gasp that it
makes my blood run cold to think of,
and sprang right onto the circle of
horns.
I've 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. aud the animal was
tossed up into the air, yelping like a
kicked dog. lie came down with
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 cOmrade 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 l had read about
wolves. 1t appeared, however, that it
was not from any sense of decency that
tl.sv 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 viciously at
the others legs. who thereupon
slOuched back to the pack. After a
moment of hesitation the four stole
silently, in single file, round and
round the circle, turning their neadS SO
as To glare at Us all the time, and
/ looking for a weak spot to attack.
/ They must have gone round rs half a
dozen times. and then they sat down
on their tails aud stuck their noses in
T the air. and hovled and howled for
maybe five minute steady. Teddy and
+ !. who were now feeling sure our crit
/ tiers could lick any number of wolves,
+ came To the conclusion the brutes
7 thought they had too big job on their
! hands aud were signaling for more
forces. Let EN- come. exclaimed
f Teddy But we were getting alto
( gether too confident. as we soon found
out
a ter bowling for awhile, the
+ wolves stopped and listened. Then
they howled again. and again they
stopped aud listened: but still no an
syver came. At this they got mp and
once more began providing round the
circle. and everywhere they went you
could see the long horns Of the cattle
pointing in their direction. can tell
YOU. cattle know a thing or two more
than they get the credit for.
We'll. when the wolves came round
tn their comrades body they saw it
. was no longer kicking. and one of them
took a bite out OF it a if by way of an
experiment. lie didn't seem to care
for wolf and turned away discomfort
elly- The idea struck Teddy as 50
funny that he laughed aloud. That
laugh sounded out of Place aud fairly
frightened me. The cattle stirred I'M
easily. and as for Teddy. he wished he
had held his tongue. for the wolf
turned and fixed his eye apOn him
with glare of recognition so to speak,
that froze my blood Teddy shivered
and hid his eyes on my sleeve, but the
wolf kept glaring n him and drew
nearer and nearer till I thought he
was going To spring right over the
cattle's heads and seize Us But in a
inmate | heard the old bull mumbling
again in MS throat and the wolf
spraae back just in time TO keep from
being gOrcd How / felt like hugging
that bail,
Il cheered Teddy up and told him not
To laugh or make a noise again. AS the
little fellow lifted his eyes he looked
over my shoulder. and. instantly for
getting what had been saying.
shouted: Here comes father and Billr
looked in the same direction and
>-,, chem. sure enough. riding furious
lv toward Ms But the wolves didn't
no..cc u asd resumed their providing.
On the other side Of the circle from
our champion. the black and white bull.
there stood nervous young COW, aud
lust at this time the wolf who had rot
his eve on Teddy seemed to detect this
weak spot in the defense. Suddenly he
dashed ike lighthing on the timid COW.
who shrauk aside wildly, and opened
passage bv which the wolf darted into
the very center of the circle. The brute
made straight for Teddy. whom /
snatched from his perch and dragged
over against the flank of the Old bull.
Instantly the herd was in confusion
The Young cow had bounded into the
open and was rushing wildly up the
iutervale. and two of the wolves We're
F.
who had marked Teddy for his prey
lcaped lightly over a calf or two. and
was almost upon Us. when a red mOol-
lev cow. the mother Of one OF these
calves, butted him 80 ficrcely as TO
throw him several feet TO one side. Be
fore he could reach u n second time
the old bull hal spotted him. Wheeling
in his tracks. a nimble as a squirrel, he
knocked me and Teddy over like a
coupe Of ninepins and was on to the
WOLF like a flash How he did humble
and grumble way down in his stomach;
but he fixed the wolf He pinned the
brute down and smashed him with his
foreh-a and then amused himself
tossing the body in the air. and lust at
this moment father and Bill rode mp
and snatched Us two youngsters on to
their saddles
Are you hurt2' questioned father,
breathlessly But he saw in mo-
ment we were not, for we were flushed
, with pride at the triumph of our old
bull