Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1900-02-08
1--WE ketched 'em in the shack"
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"Grandpa's old shack. where he used
10 i've, on t'other side of the crick."
yes, but how did you catch wolves
in this shack?' questioned the treas
urer. ''How came the wolves in the
| shack?"
"They went in to get the boss 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 a stone for
weight. The door of the shack, or small
| log shanty, was left ajar about ten
inches, so that wolf, Lion" or any
other creature, approaching the empty
| structure, could put its head in and look
about the interior.
To all appearance the door was I'M
| fastened, swinging free, and the wolf
or other wild beast was not alarmed
| by anything that il saw either within or
without. To get the bones it had but
to walk in; yet when ii 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 10 with just sutfi-
Gent force to latch il. The animal was
thus entrapped, and all so quietly that
it scarcely felt any alarm at first.
How the girl had learned so cunning
| a stratagem was not explained; perhaps
from her Indian mother. There was
very little TO it Of gear or mechanism,
and nothing whatever in the way Of
metal; otherwise it would have failed,
since it 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 1l-year-old child, five
large gray wolves had, one after an
/ other, fallen victims. Two, indeed, had
been entrapped at once, the second hay-
ing apparently pushed into the shack
with the first.
/ The shack itself was simply little
/ low log house without windows, and
| having a sod roof. When once the door
had swung to and latched behind the
wolf, it was a prisoner.
By the time the boy had explained it,
and told how the spring and weight
/ were adjusted, the treasurer became
convinced of his truthfulness. He
brought out his punch and hammer
aud proceeded to make holes in the ears
OF the skins, as by law directed, wild NJ
tie Rose ewing his every movement with
attention TO details.
How did YOU know when you had
caught a WOLFF" the treasurer asked.
"Her went up to look every morning
| said the boy.
what did you do when you found
YOU had a wolff" the treasurer asked
The girl; but she only blinked halt
dozen times in second, and il was still
the bow who replied for her that she
ran home TO get Grandpa Hogan 10
I
make a pill" for it.
The old man had been a wolf-hunter
in his day. and knew that TO shoot a
wolf inside the shack would spoil all
chance Of trapping another there. lie
inclosed enough strychnine TO Kill
wolf in a bit OF tallow, the size Of
hens egg. This the children carried 70
the shack and poked in through chink
between the logs, and after they had
gone the VOLTS hunger soon did the
rest.
Toward evening the two small hunt
crs were wont TO return. and in no case
Ihad failed to find the wolf dead. They
then opened the door, and attaching
bit of rope to the animals hind legs
hauled Il home in triumph.
Although too iufirm to go abroad IN
the snow. the old man was able TO skin
the wolves when brought TO him.
The treasurer paid the children the
bounty money-Sl9 in all-and with an
amused smile watched them drive to
the store to buy grub stuff Of which
/ the forlorn family was no doubt in need.
II was likely that they would be able TO
| sell the skins for as much more, how
| ever. and the treasurer concluded that
/ there was no immediate cause for alarm
concerning the Foulkrods as long as
/ they had little Rose TO trap for them
and Custer to do the talking.-louth's
Companion.