Evening journal., 1899-09-12
ave ketchea ,em IN the shacl.n

I'VE ketched EN- In the shack"
''What shack? Where?'
"Grandpa's old shack, where he used
TO live, on tother side of the criclS."
''Yes, but how did you catch wolves
in this shaclsq" questioned the treas.
urer. "How came the wolves in the
shack?"
"rhey went in to get the hoss head
and the steer bones"
Bones that you put there for bait?
But what kept the wolves from coming
out?"
The boy explained that ''her"-mean-
ing Rose, whose black eyes blinked
rapidly when the treasurer looked at
her-had made kind Of spring catch
from dry ash wood and leather string,
attached to which was stone for a
weight. The door of the shack, or small
log shanty, was left ajar about ten
inches, so that a wolf, 'lion,' or any
other creature, approaching the empty
structure, could putits headin and look
about the interior.
To all appearance the door was un-
fastened, swinging free, and the wolf
or other wild beast was not alarmed
10y anything that IL saw either within or
without. To get the bones il had but
10 walk in; yet when it did so, the larg-
er part of its body pushed the door back
a little farther, and the ashen spring
at the top, bending slightly, released
the weight attached TO the spring.
Then-as the creatures body passed in
the door was pulled to with just sufii-
cient force to latch IT, The animal was
thus entrapped, and all so quietly that
IL scarcely felt any alarm at first.
How the girl had learned so cunning
stratagem was not explained; perhaps
from her Indian mother. There was
very little to IL Of gear or mechanism,
and nothing whatever in the way OF
metal; otherwise it would have failed,
since il is now almost impossible TO take
these wolves in steel traps. or in log
traps such as white hunters sometimes
construct.
Yet TO this primitive device, contrived
= by the hand of an 11-year-old child, five
large gray wolves had, one after an
other, fallen victims. Two, indeed, had
been entrapped at once, the second hav-
ing apparently pushed into the shack
with the first.
The shack itself was simply litu,
low log house without windows, and
having sod roof. When once the door
had swung to and latched behind the
5 wolf, Il was q prisoner
BY the time the boy had explained IT
and told how the spring and weigh
q were adjusted, the treasurer becam'
I convinced of his truthfulness. HI
J. brought out his punch and hammer
d and proceeded TO make holes in the CIR
y of the skins, as by law directed, wild lat
= tie Rose eying his every movement Wit
( attention TO details.
c "How did you know when yop ha'
G caught wolff" the treasurer asked.
r "Her went up to look every morning,
d said the boy.
d "What did you do when you foun
Is YOU had a wolff" the treasurer uske
g the girl; but she only blinked hah
d dozen times in q second, and it was sti
y the boy who replied for her that 81
ie ran home to get Grandpa Hogan
ID snake a pill" for It.
e The old man had been a wolf-hunt'
le IN his day, and knew that TO shoot
le wolf inside the shack would spoil a
ID chance OF trapping another there. Il
D" inclosed enough strychnine to Kill
r wolf In n bit of tallow, the sizo of
hens egg. This the children carried
Is NE shack and poked in through chin
between the logs, and after they ha
S, gone the VOLTS hunger soon did I'll
sr rest
Toward evening the two small hun
IS ers were won't TO return, and in no cas-
Is had failed to find the wolf dead. Tho
II then opened the door, and attaching
n- bit of rope to the animals hind leg
hauled it home in triumph.
he Although too infrm TO go abroad
le the snow, the old man was able TO SKI
o. Ale wolves when brought to him.
he The treasurer paid the children Il
r. bounty money-s10 in all-and with O
~ amused smile watched them drive
be the store to buy grub stuff" Of whi'
Nv the forlorn family was no doubt in nee
a 1t was likely that they would be able
n sell the skins for as much more, hoy
ever, and the treasurer concluded tn
there was no immediate cause for alar
sS concerning the Foulkrods as long
they had little Rose TO trap for the
N N and Custer TO do the talking
~ Companion.
III