Alpena argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1893-1909, 1893-10-11
Elks Against Wolves.

hhOuOh Va Ohoii NAOcht NSpi"oho,
together with man named Neil
son. If / never before knew what
hardship was, I found out that win
ter. The nearest point where we
could obtain supplies was Omaha,
seventy-six miles away, and the
snow was often so deep that it was
impossible to make the trip. We
would have starved if it had not
been for the game. That was so
abundant that we could have had a
deer or elk or buffalo every meal.
But we got mighty tired of that
sort of fare, and one day ] declared
! had to have some bread, and that
| was going into town after sack
of flour. Nelson predicted a bliz-
zard pretty soon, and tried to keep
me from going, but | did not think
the storm would catch me before
could return, SO off | set.
Well, | got the -four, and by put
ting on all the speed my horse, a
wiry Indian pony, was capable of,
I had got within a dozen miles of
home when it began to get colder.
1t came with a rush, and in twenty
inmates it was freezing. Whew!
cold wasn't the name for it. |
whipped up the pony, but | had no
need to urge the creature, as he
knew as we'll as | did the danger.
We passed little clump of trees,
and as we did so | saw a gray some
thing dart out into the road and
run about twenty yards ahead of us.
1t was wolf, a great white chap,
that kept looking back at us with
bloodshot eyes. Presently another
joined him, then a third, fourth,
until from every hummock the
swiftly moving animals came flock
ing. There must have been hun
dred of them, and thrill of horror
shot through me as I saw their
steady plotting of us through the
gathering twilight.
All the gruesome stories | had
ever heard of travellers being over
taken and killed by these animals
came to me. / had, it was true, my
rifle and revolvers, but / could not
hope to kill half of the pack, and
there was not tree, as ! we'll knew,
within six miles. As | thought
this out one of the wolves sprang
at the pony's throat. He shook it
off with spring forward, but an
other leaped up instead. l brought
my whip down upon the creatures
back, and it fell with yelp.
Lashing right and left, / cleared
short space ahead for a brief mo.
ment, when the pony shot on, strain.
ing every nerve. But the pack was
on us once more, and gigantic fel-
low, hurling himself straight at the
pony's throat, fastened its fangs in
the flesh, dragging the poor animal
down on it's knees. l leaned for.
ward and placed my pistol close tc
the VOLTS ear, and fired. 1t fell
over dead, but l saw that the pony
was bleeding to death with a great
hole in it's neck, from which tn,
blood was pouring IN a stream. Al
the sight the wolves seemed to g
mad, and fell upon the dying pony
with the greatest fury.
Taking advantage Of the moment
leaped from the saddle and rar
from it, knowing that as soon al
they finished the pony / would shar'
his fate. What l hoped to do
cannot tell, but the instinct was t.
run, and I did. In less time thar
it takes to tell it, / heard them come
and, casting my eyes desparingl.
about, l saw only the cleaning
snow, looking all the winter ant
more cruel for the moonlight pour
ing from the full moon just rising.
But as l gave myself up for los
| heard rush of feet from the op
posite direction from that the wolves
were coming, and the next momen
a band of elks swept in sight. Mag
nifcent fellows they were, too
eight males and three does with
couple of calves. They had evident
ly been stampeded by something
and swept past me without seeing
me, but stopped short on catching
sight of the wolves. The doe
turned back and started to gallol
away in the direction from which
they had come, but one of th'
bucks gave a sort of cry, and the,
stopped short and huddled together
with the fawns between them, while
the bucks surrounded them. Eacl
lowered his horns and awaited th,
attack Of the wolves, which, seeing
the Gordon Of bristling bone, paus
ed disconnected for a moment, but
it was only till the foremost, ,
|