The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-03-22
WOLF SLAYER OF WOLVES.
THE STRANGE TOLR DVORsA AVID
ITS RELENTLESS EHASE.

aeromes an determination or nt- Famil'
Wi Put - Hundred Wolves 60 Flight
Will Not Attack Persons. HoweveT
Two years ago I MAS travelling. in late au
tunn, over the steppes OF central and eastern
Russia" said Frederic Hoffman. who returned
recently from n long sojourn IN the Cars do
minions. AT that season II was a bare and
desolate country. one could soc on every hant
only a dead level OF treeless. brown plain, stretch.
ing away /, the horizon line. In places. near the
water courses, tho mOnotony Of the scene was
broken by rolling country and leagues OF dark
evergreen forest. Few people or signs OF people
we're to be seen. except Mt the little villages OF
| huts and haystacks clustered about the post sta
tions. Away from these a human being was seen
rarely. a wolf or fox skulkinR along in the dis.
lance was n more common sight, and these were
so frequently seen that they seldom excited
comment from the traveller.
" But there came u little ripple OF excitement
into my journey one day. CHANGED to be tho
single passenger in the mail coach. We were
travelling In a gently rolling country with q
forest on the right. ASH nodded. half asleep.
wrapped up In furs and blankets. while the
horses bowled us along Mt an easy six-mile gait.
I saw Starof, tho stolid mujik that drove, start
forward on his scat, gather the reins well In
hand. and urge the horses forward with whip
and outcry. Seeing him look anxiously Off to
the right, | glanced In the same direction and
saw a band of nine wolves a quarter of n mile
away. Ralloping along together in n course
that would take them across our path about a
mile ahead. 1t looked as IL they meant us and
nothing else. and there were quite enough OF
them to have pulled our horses down. The
driver was clearly worried. the horses snufod
and SHE'D as II they would leave the rond and
run from the wolves. and I uicked up my trav-
elling bag from the bottom OF the coach and got
out my revolver. As the wolves came nearer
the driver became more anxious, and. instead
of advancing In n direction to meet them, pulled
the horses down to = walk. rs II to see what the
wolves would do then. They kept straight on.
never noticing us, It seemed. and. crossing the
road three hundred yards ahead Of us, went on
without stopping.
"Starofs face cleared. he settled hack at ease
on his seat, and hummed a folk song as he
put his horses again to their six-mile gait. 1t
was plain there was nothing to be feared
from the wolves. BY this time l had noticed
that they were running with their heads up. and
not held low IA when they hunt their prey,
/ said as much to the driver.
y father, they are not out for prey he
answered; they are running away from some
thing they fear. There is a battue Off to the
south, or else they are fleeing from the volk
dyor19, ,o,,. ,,o.s,, v,o. ,,,. :.
pray 2 ! asked; as eager to add to my knowledge
Of Russian folk words as to find out what had
".It is the dog wolf, the dog born sometimes
to the she wolf among her litter of cubs he nm.
when II has grown up becomes their deadly enc
my. andthe enemy of all wolves. 1t follows and
them. Every VOLTS in mortal fear Of the voik
Have yon ever seen rat; flee before tho
coming 6 Of 3 ferret We'll; 50 d, the wolves eve, ven
fifty together. will fly from the volk dvorsa.
But i is rare that a dog wolf Cub lives to
wolf finds one among her litter she kills it. Can
you guess how she Distinguishes II from the
9 Ths doc cubs Isn. II IN is ,h by M sss ma"f fSs 0 Mo dffi dElnE.
silently. When she finds that one Of her cubs
LAYS it's drink she kills 1t With no more ado,
from which the wolves had appeared.
lie pointed as he spoke to where. upon a
swell of ground two hundred wards away. a
10ee XII xs ijs hSd Of sp ms e. had 1G nau welf' and 1T seemed no% xt t.
US warily, as II neither inclined to
turn back or come nearer. At q second glance I
noted that his manner OF standing. of rricking
his ears, and the expression OF the face suggest
a fierce, shaggy dog rather than wolf.
gu see it, father. there upon tho brow OF
1.-The wolf? Yes. what it2 He seems to
have fingered behind the others
HE has not fingered. He Is in pursuit OF
the wolves. and has stopped for us to pass. 1t is
" n W y'u Q 4 10 u " Wv NoiA oNOTsa
THE carriage had been stopped, and for sew
oral minutes we gsZed upon the creature, which
now had lain down with its head between its
paws. lolling with its tongue after the manner
Mt, E d a Sa, and ap sl ,5 5os t nniik wa sS c fnT, US e eoninY
Of the wolf. It remained in that position until
had passed on, then leaped M and bounded
Its running was lighter ard freer than theirs
had been. and its speed far greater. suggesting
tho movement of the coursing. hound rather
than that of the wolf. 1t was full in pursuit OF
the frightened pack and plainly gaining upon it
We passed from the Wv Of both; .,.,,..
conversation continued with the volk dvorsa as
the topic. Our talk was somewhat hampered
by my imperfect knowledge Of the Russian
language. but managed, after a time. to get
from the driver the informatiGn I sought. His
pl!cit, and, after what I had Just seen, l was in
clined TO share Z.
kindred he said, 1T cannot be brought to
attack man except when driven to self-dcfence.
II is more DANGEROUS than five wolves.
The country people welcome Its coming into a
eIghborhoon. for there soon is an end to the
wolves there for many miles around. At tho
time he IL untamAhlc. and will suffer no
one 70 approach him. II food he placed for him
aud left, he sometimes will eat II. but he Is very |
suspicious; and none was ever known to have
"'Onc came into the neighhorhood where our
fnniiy have always dwclt, when my father wasa
little child. The story of the way he first made
g presence known viii he handed down In the
family from father to son for many generations.
! lNl' " hN UNA ''lI anu NHlN llhlN llAfTst ANU, |
~ tho season wore on. the wolves, pressed by
hunger, came nearer the villages, and were
many and fierce.
lit was one afternoon. near shutdown. that n
party OF n dozen people. my grand parents
among them. were returning home from mar
ket. They rode In two sledgcs through the
forest, in which the snow rose high on each side
NJ the narrow henten track, In the hindmost
my grand parents rode upon the front
'"at, On the rear seat my father. then less than
Iwo years ola. was in charge OF a young Girl.
Wrapped up warmly in blankets, he lay in her
lap. fast asleep. They were losing no time In
home, for behind them and about them
hey could hear the hayinG OF wolves, and they
knew that the Cowardly beasts would grow
at niGhtfall.
"'lycll, the girl fell asleep. my father rolled
nut into tho snow by the roadside. without |
ening and the sledges gllded on with no
one the wiser for what had. happened. Perhaps
some NJ the older ones had drank too much
rudEl at the market town that day. A. any
the sledges bad got nearly n mile beyond
before the girl woke m and shrirked when she
found the baby gone. OF course, the slehges
were stopped, but they could not he turned hnck
IN account NJ the dccp snow at the rOadsides. |
While my grandmother screamed and iamcnted, |
NY grsnhfath"r and old Oslov, the hunter. got
M, Of tkn 'lchgcS and ran hack down the road
10 find the child, IL he Cnuld be found for. as
.hey ran. they could hear the cries OF wolves