The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1893-10-17
JONES AND THE WOLVES.
He Refused to Tell a Snake Story and
Gave His Hearers the Exact Facts
in Regard to an Encounter with
Wolves.

hh ~ el a.
Wolves.
Speaking" said jackson Peters,
"of the ingenuity of mani just spoke
Of it myself" he explained hastily, as
he eyed Jones. ~"Speaking Of"
Pardon me-, Jackson, one moment, |
please, before We listen to your fasci-
mating narrative, !" broke in Jones, with
great suavity. "It occurs to me that
you may be a descendant of that his
toric man who had but one story, a
long gun story. You remember he
used to bring his fist down on the table
after dinner with a terrible bang and
then remark 81 declare, sounds
like a gum and then he would reel off
his gun story for the next thirty
minutes. Fathers or mothers side,
Jackson ?"
"You are in uncommonly high
spirits, JONES'" replied jackson Peters.
Perhaps W. are to be favored tonight
with the exact facts in regard to your
encounter with the blue racer, having
taken a month since you promised it to
construct them. My reference to the
ingenuity of man was legitimate and
was prompted by the subtlety of the
waiter in whisking away an imaginary
fly with his napkin in the hope of aug
menting his tip. From that l was
SbcSNtV W. Shi Vi " n Do hhO l.
had just read Of, who ten years ago
had the operation of tracheotomy per-
formed on himself, and u silver tube
inserted through which he could
breathe. He has been lynched twenty
times since that, but as the rop al
ways above the tube"
The young man was interrupted by O
CHEEKY laugh from Jones. "Really,"
broke in this individual, "that was an
ingenious idea. Do you know, Jack
son, [ believe you come Of a clever
family ?"
"Thank you, Jones'"
Extraordinarily clever family. l
knew as soon as l gathered hat the
fellow was another uncle of yours hat
he'd do something bright, but 1 was
hardly prepared for this. Friends
have in the past been so kind as to say
that I am myself ingenious in getting
out of difficulty, but I never rose to
anything like that. 1 remember a lit
tie brush I had with wolves in north
ern Wisconsin before the war. The
wolves there were of the large timber
variety, and it being u hard winter
they were constantly hungry"
"But, JONES'" interposed Robinson,
" somebody mentioned the blue racer
story"
"Not tonight, Robinson; not to-
night. 1 have got to look up certain
facts and figures which I noted in my
diary at the time before I can trust
myself with that. 1 would not deceive
you about that blue racer for anything
in the world. There are always temp
tations in o blue racer story which |
must guard against. Those wolves, I
repeat, seemed always to have q gnaw-
ing sensation in the stomach. They
were fierce and dangerous and would
readily attack a man even when there
were no more than two or three of
them together. One day in January 1
was going from Ojibway City to Pom
me de Terre river on foot, accompani-
ed only by my dog, which was named
Bones, from his fondness for this
article of diet. He vas a good dog,
but he had read somewhere that dis
erection is the better part of valor.
Bones was not u dog that would
ever go about the country asking folks
in his poor, dumb way where he could
probably find a large pack of wolves.
Bones he had to bring good letters Of
introduction from mutual friends.
When about fifteen miles from Pomme
de Terre I noticed that Bones was be-
coming uneasy. Five minutes later l
observed that he was wearing the hair
on his back pompadour. I suspected
wolves, and | was right. They soon
came up not fifty yards behind. There
was at least ono hundred of them
large, gaunt, hungry, savage wolves.
Their fierce howls reverberated
through the startled forests like the
diabolical shrieks of frenzied demons
in torment. | saw that q hand-to-hand
contest with them was out of the ques-
ton. Flight was my only hope. Pick
ing up Bones by the nape> of the neck,
| tucked him under my arm and start
ed.
For forty minutes, gentlemen, /
ran like u cat in o. dog show. | sup
pose l covered ten miles, n~otwithstand-
ing that the snow was deep in some
places, and in others the underbrush
interfcred, The wolves kept close be-
hind. When / turned my head l could
feel their hot, venomOus breath on my
cheek. They leaped up and nipped at
the tail of poor Bones, which was wav-
ing and tossing behind on the terrific
wind which my flight engendered like
u plume of O knight Of old going into
battle. Their howl, weird and hideous
as the sinking vail of ter thousand
lost souls, shook the pine needles from
the trees and tore the nerves of the
unfortunate Bones in q way which was
painful to see.
AT the end of ten miles I began to
tire. A large spruce tree stood in my
path and | climbed it. Perching my
self on a lower limb some fifty feet from
the ground and tying Bones in place
on another with q bit of string, I look
ed down on the angry, surging sea of
wolves below. I felt safe and lit nv
pipe and gave my dog q ham zone
which | had in my pocket. But o
to my surprise, the wolves began most
extraordinary tactics-nothing less,
gentlemen, than gnawing down the
tree. One hundred sets of ravenous
fangs tore and bit the trunk. / saw
| hat tho tree could not stand half an
hour. ] knocked the ashes out of my
pipe and began to look at the situation
seriously. / noticed on the branches
about me chunks of raw spruce gum
about the size of my fist. Taking m
knife l pried one off and dropped it to
q wolf below. He snapped his jaws
upon 1t with famished greed. He
never opened them again, the rosinous
mass holding them as firm as a wise.
AT the end of twenty minutes l had
the jaws of every wolf welded together
past all hope Of opening. I then de-
scended with Bones, who now barked
%savagely and attacked the wolves with
great spirit. With his assistance I
drove the bafiled, helpless creatures to
Pomme de Terre like q flock of sheep.
There was at that time $40 bounty on
wolves. We rounded them up in the