The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1906-01-25

tl Ej through xaasi 'tl'a that rugged eoun
trJ of granite and forest
lived Peter Stanley. In the summer
he was a section man on the road, but
he usually went north into the woods
with the first SNOW, and spent the
winter in trapping.
He had discovered an excellent trap
ping location on the upper Nipigon'
and had gone there for the last four
winters with his hunting partner. a
French Canadian named Chouteau.
There they had built 4 log cabin, and
there they returned early in the Win
ter Of last year with two toboggan-
loads of supplies, and at once proceed
ed to lay out their lines Of traps.
There were 1narten-traps in the
swamps, mink-traps along the frozen
streams, and few fox and lynx-traps:
but one of their great hopes Of profit
was from the timber-wolves. There is
q Government bounty Of $40 on the
scalps of these animals; but for them
they set no traps.
It is next to impossible to capture
the gray timber-wolf by any Of the
ordinary devices. He knows the most
cunningly disposed trap as far as ne
can see it, and he can smell poison
through any disguise. But for circum-
venting these too sagacious animals,
Stanley had invented method Of his
own, which had already proved highly
successful.
On moonlight night be would go
into the swamps and shoot a couple
of rabbits, which he'would drag in the
snow so as to leave blood trail. Such
scent is irresistible to any predatory
animal, and after an hours tramping
STANLEY would hear the hunting cry
open-the curious, moaning yelp
through the dark woods. He would
then make a small semi-circle back,
and climb a tree close to his own trail.
when the pack came past on the scent
he usually managed to get at least
three shots with his repeater before
they scattered.
They rarely showed spirit enough to
ATTACH him; the sudden fright of the
shots sent them scampering. He would
gladly have had them besiege hin in
his tree, for with a belt full of cart
ridges he could have killed the whole
pack, which seldom numbered more
than. eight or ten. But he never had
any such fortune.
Winter set in hard and early. with
unusually deep snow, and near the end
of December Stanley went out on his
first wolf of the season. 1t was
about moonrise, and the night air was
so still as to- appear Eailder than it
really was. There had been recent
heavy storms, and the hemlocks were
deeply laden with fresh snow, dry as
powder. The woods We're very still,
ard in the strange, blush northern
moonlight the silence seemed mys-
terious and sinister.
Stanley was. not much impressed by
these effects, however. He merely OBJ
served that it was intensely cold, and
that perching in tree would be frigid
work that night, in spite Of his double
clothing and gloves.
Half mile from the shanty he shot
q hare that was nibbling spruce
trunk, and little way farther he Sc
cured another. The carcasses lie tied
to a deerskin thong, and trailed them
In the wake Of his snow shoes.
BE dragged his bait across 4 hard
wood ridge and down into another
cedar swamp on the other side. In
hard weather all the wild life Of the
woods resorts to such places for shell
ter, and here the wolves would be hunt
Ing if there was a pack in. the neigh
borhood. But he found few tracks and
no sign at all Of wolves.
After traveang slowly for two or
three miles, Stanley sat down on q
log to rest, and as the warmth of exer-
else died out, the cold nipped him to the
bone through the "four-point" blanket
coat. He got up and moved on, in
tending to return in long curve to-
ward the cabin. He did not much
care, after all, whether he started any
wolves. It was too cold for hunting
that night.
The dry snow swished round his
ankles at the fall Of the long rackets,
He still dragged the dead hares, which
were now frozen almost as hard as
wood, but not too hard to leave scent
The air grew steadily colder. The
thermometers at Sault Sainte Marie
went twentythree below zero that
night.
He had reached the other side of the
swamp when his ears caught suddenly
a high-pitched, mournful howl, ending
in a sort of yelp, sounding indefinitely
far away, yet clearly heard through
the tense air. He knew we'll what i
was. The pack had struck trail
possibly his own, possibly that Of :
deer. He would very soon learn which
Stanley was just then in the mids
of tangled stretch or second growth
where the view was too obstructed fo
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