The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1908-10-29

cross between a greyhound and ii fox
hound, and two others that were
crosses between greyhound and a
wire-haired Scotch deer hound Old
man Prindle's contribution to tie pack
consisted of two immense hrindled
mongrels of great strength ard fero-
ciOus temper.
As | was very anxious to see Il wolf
hunt the Judge VOLUNTEERED to get one
up, and asked old man Prind.e 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 wOrmwood to the I'M
reconstructed soul of the Judge. Still
they were the only dogs anywhere
around capable of tackling IA savage
timber wolf, and without their aid
the Judges own high-spirited animals
ran a serious risk of injury, for they
We're 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
little spring the whole furnishing adj
mirable cover for any wild beast Ear
ly III the morning we started on horse
back for this bit of cover, which was
some three miles off. The party con
sisted of the Judge, old man Prindle.
cowboy. myself. and the dogs. The
judge and | carried our rifles and the
cowboy his revolver but old man Prin-
die had nothing but heavy whip, for
he swore, with many oaths, that no one
should interfere with his big dogs, for
by themselves they would surely
make the wolf feel sicker than
stuck hog" Our shaggy ponies rack
|. ed along at Il fve-mile gait over the
dewy prairie grass. The two big dogs
trotted behind their master. grim and
ferociOus. The track hounds were tied
In couples. and the beautiful grey
hounds loped lightly and gracefully
alongside the horses. The country was
fine. a mile to our right a small plains
river wound in long curves between
banks fringcd 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.
We rode over gently rolling prairie.
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
b1 y,lnpgI Nnly-,.s !, al, IN,
time end will not leave cover if they
can help it; and as they had both food
and water within we knew it was
most unlikely that this couple would
be gone The valley was 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 one side of the upper end and old
man Priudle with two others on the
opposite side, while | was left at the
lower end to guard against the posi-
bility of the wolves breaking back. the
Judge himself rode into the thicket
near ne and loosCncd the track hounds
TO let them find the wolves trail The
big dogs also were unCOuped and al
lowed to 90 in with the hounds. Their
power of scent was very poor, but they
We're sure TO be guided Alright by the
bayin% 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 thickct, which they
would probably have shrunk from do
ing alone. There was 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 clamorouS baying
from the thiclct 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 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 Il
great row showed that they had come
rather closer than they had expected
upon at least one of the wolves.
In another minute, however the lat
ter found ii too hot for them and
bolted from the thcket 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
maddcncd by the clamOr in the thicket
below, for a moment dashed off the
wrong way, confused by the report of
the gun. | rode for all | was worth
to where the cowboy stood, and in
stantly caught a GLIMPSE of two
wolves, griz2led 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 soon as | saw
them saw also that the rearmoSt of
the couple had been hit somewhere iu
the body and was tagging behind, the
blood running from its TANKS. while
the two grcyhoundS were racing after
- ,,t a.