The Monte Vista journal., 1900-06-16


the confounded thing wns travelling
due north. which there meant out into
the current. There l was out in the
middle OF the busiest river on the globe
with nothing but some rotten ice be-
tween me and an undertow warranted
to pull under warship. oh. it was
lovely. But ! was up against IL, 70
there was no use cussing.
"Just at this point the river. makes
crossing That is. the current hits
one bank n good wallop and then butts
across to the other side in spite Of the
main body of water. This imparts TO
the whole business measley upstream
iden at certain spots. We got into this
Whirlpool forgot to mention MI.
Wolf, who was on that block with me
and then we backed away from aide
to side, as if we were dancing q
quadrille. saw the waterworks few
times, then didn't. Then it began
to get dark. Then Mr.. Wolf COM
wanted 10 go home right off.
You see, they have gray wolves out
there. Now, 1t happened that q mem
her of this tribe-usually afraid OF q
man-had marched out on the ice TO
take quiet drink. lie was busy lap
ping up the blue water. oh, yes, it's
blue in winter il it does look like pea
soup in summor-when l split out our
raft. ! say ours, for the wolI held his
end of the game to the showdown
when it was a draw. Then he could
have had the premises without fight
from me.
I'VE backed and filed there until
the moon came up. ! had been too
busy to think of the possibility Of any
animal being there. when the wolf,
sitting where il was thick enough TO
stand his yovl, lifted his beak to the
heavens and cut loose with groan
which reminded me of the whistle of
a tug in distress. / was shocked and
turned about to see what this all
meant. There was Mr.. Wolf sitting
on his launches and singing a dolorous
measure. Then ! RENE membercd that
the farmers IN that region loved not
the wolf. so ! wished him to cease from
murmuring. They might turn loose
few Gatlincs ON us and the wolf
would have none the best of it,
and he quit howling and growled.
crouching as II to spring.
Heres n funny thing. That chunk
of lee was some so feet wide and ns
many broad when we started navign-
ton. Then rs we buttcd into a piece
of shoal water or another berg big
chunk would come away and the raft
commenced TO grow beautifully less.
This made it interesting. You know
the American wolf is n coward when he
has few thousands of miles TO race
over, bu, in close quarters he will fight.
| knew il, at any rate. for when /
tossed chunks AT him he quit wnrbling,
showed his teeth and crouched for a
spring.
Il saw by the time we had been out
there half a dozen hours that the raft
was too small for both of MS. / wanted
all the room myself and decided the
wolf would have to 20. i am not much
of n swimmer myself and 1t was cold.
SO / tried IL shoe oil that wolf lie
wouldn't shoe worth n cent. We were
out in the middle Of the river by thi.
and making good progress toward Kan
sas City. Chunk after chunk was
whirling from our raft and /; soon be-
came a matter of crouching on opposite
sides of a hummock in The middle. The
wolf crouchci in closer and closer
and whined like dog. But he showed
fight when | bothered him.
The moon came up and silvered our
raft. II also showed where the dark.
sullcn and furious water ragged. Itwas
a thoughtful time. l had missed din
ncr by a dozen miles. was out ON the
bosom of the Missouri with one lon.
wolf OF uncertain parcntage and. un-
discovered habits. | had no cartridges
with which - shoot him and he re-
scnt.d any familiarity. | remember
that, having used threats, resortod
to the CON game. but that wolf was
a wise boy; he paid no heed 10 my
efforts Ia make friends. lie howied
when not molcsicd. as he evidently
had No purpose Of swimming for IL.
Neither had |. but as our limits mar
rowcd with every swirl of tide tha;
does nothing else II soon became n
question of vino would win at this kind
of postponed game.
Away 10 the south. high In the
heavens. ! could see line Of lights
declining visibly. took them for
stars, but later concluded they were
the lights On Hun street. Would We
sweep 10y the big city or would we hi,
n snndbar, plenty OF which iurkcd near
by? IL was question. made up my
mind ! must get rid Of tina, wolf, 30
| sncnhcd around the kopjo and hoist.
ed my slotrlu Ia stnit. him rh.,