The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1903-01-20

the whole business a measley urstreaI
idea at certain spots We got into thi
Whirlpool forgot to mention Mr.
Wolf. who was on that block with me
and then we backed away from side
to side, as if we were dancing a
quadrille. / saw the waterworks few
times, then 1 didn't. Then it began
to get dark. Then Mr.. Wolf COM
menced to sing his swan song and /
wanted to go home right off.
you see, they have gray wolves out
there. Now, it happened that mem
Der of this tribe-usually afraid of
man-had marched out on the ice to
take a quiet drink. He was busy lap
ping up the blue water. oh. yes. it's
blue in winter if it does look like pea
soup in summer-when ! split out our
raft. l say ours, for the vol held his
end of the game to the showdown
when it was draw. Then he could
have had the premises without fight
from me. u
''We 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 it was thick enough TO
stand his yowl, lifted his beak to the
heavens and cut loose with a groan
which reminded me of the whistle of
a tug in distress. L was shocked and
turned about to see what this all
meant. There was Mr.. Wolf sitting
on his launches and singing dolorous
measure. Then / remembered that
the farmers in that region loved not
the wolf, so l wished him to cease from
murmuring. They might turn loose
few Cuttings on us and the wolf
would have none the best of it. /
heaved few loose blocks of ice at him
and he quit bowling and growled,
erouching as If to spring.
Here's funny thing. That chunk
of ice was some so feet wide and as
many broad when we started naviga-
ton. Then as we butted into piece
of shoal water or another berg a big
chunk would come away and the raft
commenced to grow beautifully less
This made it interesting. You know
the American wolf is coward when he
has few thousands of miles to race
| over, but in close quarters he will fight.
knew it, at any rate, for when
| tossed chunks OF him he quit warbling.
showed his teeth and crouched for a
spring.
Il saw by the time we had been out
there half dozen hours that the raft
was too small for both of us. / wanted
all the room myself and decided the
wolf would have to go. am not much
of a swimmer myself and it was cold
so / tried to shoe off that wolf He
wouldn't shoe worth a cent. We were
out in the middle of the river by this
and making good progress toward Kan
sas City. Chunk after chunk was
whirling from our raft and it soon be
came matter of crouching on opposite
sides of a hummock in the middle. TIL,
wolf crouched in closer and closer
and whined like dog. But he showed
fight when 1 bothered him.
THE moon came up and silvered GU
raft. 1t also showed where the dark
sullen and furious water ragged. Itwa
a thoughtful time. had missed din
/ d
bosom of the Missouri with one Ion,
wolf of uncertain parentage and un
discovered habits. had no cartridges
with which to shoot him and he re
scented any familiarity. | remembel
that, having used threats, l resorteC
to the CON game, but that vol wa
a wise boy; he paid no heed to m,
efforts to make friends. He howleC
when not molested, as he evidentl.
had no purp use of swimming for it
Neither had /, but as our limits mar
rowed with every swirl of tide tina
does nothing else it soon became
question of wine would win at this kin,
, of postponed game.
I Away to the south, high in tn
! heavens, could see a line of light
! declining visibly. 1 took them 70
! stars, but later concluded they wer
the lights on Bluff street. Would W
sweep by the big city or would we hi
! a sandbar, plenty OF which lurked nea
, by? 1t was a question. | made up m
!. mind 1 must get rid of that wolf, S
i sneaked around the kopje and hoist
: ed my shotgun to smite him. The
commenced the most lurid scrap l eve
: mixed with.
: Il swung with the gun; he ducke
! and clawed me in the ribs. rushed
! he side-stepped and swung for m
jaw, but / went under. Then W
7 SPARED around that ice hill. He keI
: it between me and harm until all a
once with a yowl he charged. He smot
\ me in the side and one leg went int
! so feet of water, but was up before h
: could count ten. Then L closed in
{ had to, for broke off another chun
: with that rush-and handed him a
: awful punch. l thought he was GU
: but he came up before the count ar
! ducked as l went for him.
i zone must &C out this time or it W;
! a draw, for but eight feet of space W;
! left. ! didn't measure it excepti1
= with my eyes, but I'll swear 10 it.
! led the left-I'd lost the gun-and
= blocked, countering with his right.
: went under and caught him an awf
= uppercut under the chin with my RICH
He liked it; absolutely liked it, for
n. n n ~ a 4