Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1904-10-12
ROMULUs, THE WOLF
SOME INCIDENTS IN HIS LIFE
AS NOTED By NATURALIST.
how Two Brothers of the Young Coy.
ote Came to an Untimely End,
at Teeth of the Discrim-
mating "Sprite."


four young foxes. The seven young
creatures were about the same size
and to the average person they were
much the same in general appearance
AS an experiment, introduced tbs
seven to my full-grown fox, 9Th,
Sprite," and apparently he gave them
all cordial welcome to his pen. / no
ticed that he looked sidewise at the
young wolves once or twice, as though
all was not as it should be; but his
suspicious. if such they were, seemed
to quickly pass away, and when food
was put into the cage, he carried it to
young foxes and young wolves alike
So gentle was he that, in spite of the
fact the young wolves were not quito
at their ease. / went away and left
them all together. Soon after night
fall l heard sounds which led me tc
believe that vigorous argument was
in progress in THE Sprite's" cage. and
/ lost no time in getting out to see
what the matter was. With all my
hurry, was too late. BY what mental
process. if any, "The Sprite'' had ar
rived at the decision that young coy
otes were undesirable companions, ]
know not, but, at any rate, one of the
little wolves lay on the floor of the
cage. kicking his last, and a second
lay, limp as rag, in the teeth of "The
Sprite." Had / arrived five minutes
later, this story would never have been
written; there would have been three
dead coyotes instead of two. AS it is,
we still have the third young wolf. and
we have called his name Romulus
Yesterday l took Romulus for a
walk, and Romulus, with all his appe-
lite, would sooner go for walk than
eat his dinner. When he saw me ap-
preaching, he began to skip about his
cage. wagging his tail, smiling with
all his might
| AS we set out we had to pass "The
| Sprite's" cage, and the little wolf ran
| up with friendliness written in eveAs
| look and act. But "The Sprite" did
not even pretend to be friendly. In.
stead of wagging his tail, as he would
| have done to almost any dog which
came to call on him, he rushed to the
| point of the cage nearest to the wolf,
| and followed it's every movement with
an intentness which had but one mean.
| ing If he could have got out, there
would have been a dead wolf, though
| The latter was the bigger of the two
| The next incident occurred a few
minutes later. when we met the bear
cub. Jimmy" sauntering down the
road with the air of young man with
| plenty of money in his pockets, and
lots Of time to spend it. Jimmy" real.
| ly didn't care two cents about the
young wolf, but the wolf didn't know
this, and the reception accorded the
little bear was anything but fiattering
to that husky young gentleman. "Jim.
my swung over toward Romulus as
though he'd just as soon say "How'dy"
rs not, but the little wolf struck a
pose which made me wish / had nv
camera with me- He lowered his
head, opened his mouth, and, drawing
back his lips, uncovered his long rows
of white teeth. He arched his back.
Ind the hair from the back of his head
20 the root of his tail was not only
| erected, but it pointed the wrong way.
while his bushy tail was curved in.
wards between his hind legs, until its
| tip touched the belly Accompanyine
this attitude was snarl which had
about as much effect on Jimmy as
the buzz of fly would have had. With
| good-natured indifference the bear
walked up. shifting but before he could
| get quite near enough to touch noses.
the coyote snapped his jaws savagely
and skunk quickly away, turning a
| moment later to see if he were pur.
| sued
After that we went quietly along the
road for some time. Romulus darting
into the fields from time to time in
| pursuit of butterflies or grasshoppers.
Once he found bone, which he car.
ried very proudly, with his head held
high in the air. Another time he
found piece of white paper, which he
also carried for some distance. Then
we turned into the fields, where the
young wolf dashed on ahead, chasing
insects or swapping at them as they
passed him in the air. He was very
sensitive to sounds, and at every
strange noise he was all attention.
eyes, nose and ears all directed to
wards the point Of interest.
As we were coming home, my com
panion spied "a large toad, hopping
across the road. and quickly ran and
picked it up in his teeth. But he
dropped it even more quickly, for the
acrid secretion in the toad's skin was
evidently very disgusting to him, and
for half an hour he frothed at the
mouth and shook his head in his efforts
TO rid himself of the nauseating taste
ERNEST HAROLD BAYNES.
| Not Free.
Gladys-She has the fatal gfft Of