Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1908-12-18

49, o@NJ
hound, and two others that were
crosses between a greyhound and a
wire-haired Scotch ~deer-hound- Old
man Prindle's contribution to the pack
consisted of two immense brindled
mongrels Of great strength and fero-
cious temper.
AS / was very anxious to see q wolf
hunt the Judge VOLUNTEERED to get I'M
up, and asked old man Prindle to as
sist, for the sake of his two big fight
ing dogs; though the very names of the
latter. General Grant and Old Abe,
were gall and NORWOOD to the un-
reconstructed soul of the Judge. Still
they were the only dogs anywhere
around capable of tackling a savage
timber wolf. and without their aid
the Judges own h~igh-spirited animals
ran a serious risk of injury, for they
were altogether too game to let any
beast escape without a struggle.
Luck favored us. Two wolves had
killed a calf and dragged 1t into a long
patch of dense brush where there was
a little spring, the whole furnishing ad-
mirable cover for any wild beast. Ear
ly In the morning we started or horse
back for this bit of cover, which was
some three miles off. The party con
sisted of the Judge, old man Prindle. a
cowboy, myself. and the dogs. The
judge and ! carried our rifles and the
cowboy his revolver, but old man Prin-
die had nothing but a heavy whip. for
he swore, with many oaths, that no Il
should interfere with his big dogs, for
by themselves they would surely
make the wolf feel sicker than a
stuck hog" Our shaggy ponies rack
ed along at a ive-mile gait over the
dewy prairie grass. The two big dogs
trotted behind their master, grim and
f%erocious. The track-hounds were tied
In couples, and the beautiful grey
hounds Hoped lightly and gracefully
alongside the horses. The country vas
fine. A mile to u right a small plains
river wound In long curves between
banks fringed with cottonwoods. Two
or three miles to our left the foothills
rose sheer and bare, with clumps of
black pine and cedar in their gorges.
VIC IOQC OfCh BCAlJ lOiilh6
with here and there patches of brush
at the bottoms of the slopes around
the dry watercourses.
At last we reached a somewhat deep
er valley, in which the wolves were
harbored. Wolves lie close In the day
time and will not leave cover If they
can help It: and as they had both food
/ oV,d vr-ofor Within rro IT,ox1 ~ uvas
most unlikely that this couple would
be gone. The valley was a couple Of
hundred yards broad and three or four
times as long, filed with a growth of
ash and dwarf elm and cedar. thorny
underbrush choking the spaces be-
tween. Posting the cowboy, to whom
he gave his rifle, with two greyhounds
on n side of the upper end. and old
man Prindle with two others on the
opposite side. while l was left at the
lower end to guard against the posi-
bility of the wolves breaking back. the
Judge himself rode into the thicket
neal me and loosened the track-hounds
to let them find the wolves trail. The
big dogs also were %uncoupled and al
lowed to go in with the hounds. Their
power of scent was very poor, but they
were sure to be guided Alright by the
baying of the hounds, and their pres
ence would give confidence to the lat
ter and make them ready to rout the
wolves out of the thicket, which they
would probably have shrunk from do
ing alone. There was n moments
pause of expectation after the Judge
entered the thicket with his hounds.
We sat motionless on our horses.
eagerly looking through the keen fresh
morning air. Then a clamorous baying
from the thicket in which both the
horseman and dogs had disappeared
showed that the hounds had struck
the trail of their quarry and were run
ming on a hot scent. For a couple of
minutes we could not be quite certain
which way the game was going to
break. The hounds ran zigzag through
the brush, as we could tell by their
baying, and once some yelping and a
great row showed that they had come
rather closer than they had expected
upon at least n of the wolves.
In another minute, however. the lat
ter found 1t too hot for them and
bolted from the thicket. My first no
tice of this was seeing the cowboy,
who was standing by the side of his
horse. suddenly throw up his rifle and
fire, while the greyhounds who had
been %springing high in the air, half
maddened by the clamor In the thicket
below. for a moment dashed off the
wrong way, confused by the report of
the gun. l rode for all l was worth
to where the cowboy stood. and in
stantly caught a glimpse of two
wolves, g~rizzled-gray and brown.
which having been turned by his shot
had started straight over the hill
across the plain toward the mountains
three miles away. AS 500 as | saw
them saw also that the rearmoSt of