Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1892-11-29
A BicycII.t Chased by yoIve.


Fred Whishaw gives in Land and Water
an account of his bsing chased by wolves
in the district of Pskoff. He had gone to
Russia with a bicycle, and at the time he
fell in with the wolves was on his ma
chine, having covered distance of some
twelve miles in an endeavor to ''hesd"
some elk.
L had, he says, ridden but q mile or two
on the return journey, when it struck me
that ought to slight and refresh my ma
chine with few drops of oil, but hardly
was on foo. than, happening to glance
back along the road, saw something
which at first sight caused thrill of pleas
urable excitement, bu. coon gave place to
very different sensations Hardly a quar-
ter Of mile behind, and coming toward
me at the long gallop which covers the
ground at wonderfully rapid pace, were
Ave large gray wolves. / saw the leader
raise his nose, and, catching sight of me,
cock his ears aud give tongue, Just as
dog might. There was no doubt about the
fact; was being hunted. ] was speedily
up and away, and as csueed the pedals TO
whirl In q manner TO which they wers en-
tirely unused, / tried to calculate coolly
the probable relative swiftness of bicycles
and wolves. 1 had at least ten miles 20 60
before l should reach safety. might
possibly do that In three-qusrters Of an
hour, IL the machine and my breath held
out. Could the wolves accomplish the dis
tance in less timei The situation was by
no means one for trifing. When I had
ridden q couple of miles OF 30 1 ventured
to glance back, the result being the instan-
taneous conviction that wolves can travel
faster than bicycle. The brutes had
gained upon me. They had gained hun
dred yards at least. At this rate quick
ly calculated they would pull me down
Just about two miles before l could reach
my destination and city of refuge, Law
rik; unless, indeed, they could not keep
up the pace, which hattered myself was
rather hoti
Another two miles and another peep be-
hind me. The wolves were barely two
hundred yards away now, and coming
along as though they enjoyed 1t. I could
swear that the leading wolf licked his lips
as he saw me look around. I tried q
squirt. The road was as level q billiard
table, and 1 strained every nerve to the ut
most. But even as 1 did so it was borne
in upon me that spurring would not do. l
must slacken off at once, for l could never
Keep tue TaUc WHICH L Noe
now travelling. In fact, / must economics
all my staying powers in order to last out
the distance at even my former rate of
progression. Then, suddenly, an idea oe-
CURED to me. l would ring my bell loud
| IL aud continuously, and see what effect
| this would produce. l pressed the gong
| and turned round to observe whether the
| sound would check my pursuers. The eff
| feot was instantaneous. No sooner did
| the first clsng of the gong ring out than
| the wolves-every one of them-stopped
gave a yell of defiance and delight and
dashed on, ringing away for dear life.
But my triumph was short lived. oa
| looking back few moments after found
that my foes were again in full pursuit.
However, I had gained a little
On We few, my gong sounding harsh
| and strident In the silence of the forest.
1t was magnificent; at least II would have
been IL 1t had not been SO horribly danger
ous. There was rut trodden by horses
running all along the very middle of the
road. 1 avoided this and rode at the side,
which was smooth, for the runners of the
light sledges do not as Q rule wear tbs
snow. 1t was easy enough, Of course, te
avoid the rut when riding straight ahead
but while looking round there was the dan
ger of my front wheel slipping into it,
and either checking the way of tho Ia
chine or even causing q capsize. L had
Just turned my head to look round upon
my pursuers for the twentieth time-slas
they were still gaining, and were now
within fifty yards. Hearing loud clattel
in front of me, turned back again to SET
what new danger threatened me from that
direction. In thus twisting back and
round again allowed my front wheel tc
60 out of the direct line. The next in
slant was In the rut, aud, before 1 had
time to see what was happening, was, witt
my trusty bicycle, buried couple of feet
deep In the snow at the side of the road
1 gave myself up for lost. All this did
not take long to happen, and as emerged
from the snow l was in time to see two
things. The first object which met m,
gaze was a magnificent bull elk, followed