Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-02-17


against the ice one day in a storm off
East Cape and our outfit was wrecked.
Then we fell in with an Eskimo tribe
and tried trapping for the remainder
of that season.
With an old Eskimo and his son as
guides we were about fifty miles in
the back country on a Sunday after
noon just before sunset about ready
to start for camp with big sleigh
load of raw 'furs. The two reindeer
were munehing laziIy at bunch Of
| moss 10 Koo the boy, had fished from
beneath snow bank.
We must all have received the warn
ing at the same time, for the four of
us halted simultaneously in our work
Of tying up the skins and assumed a.
listening attitude Far far away il.
was at first like the last dying echoes
OF g pipe organ. "O-o-o-o-o-o-6,s Il
whispering cadence borne in by a GEN
tie wind from out Of the north. Then
a little louder, quicker, clearer, came
the sound, and we knew it was wolves,
and We knew too from the dismal
howl that they were on our trail.
Although all Of us felt instinctively
that the battle of our lives was ahead.
there wasn't the least excitement Men
used to the h2rdships of that bleak
land where nature is ever at the worst
grow caIlous to physical danger. OF
all the perils that menace the people
of tflevArctie wolves on the rum are
the most to be feared, yet we went
about our preparations to meet the
rayenous horde with scarcely more
haste than We might display in roping
walrus or sticking up a polar bear.
The first order of business natu-
rally was 10 move on. The only posi-
bic way to fight off a pack of wolves
in an open country is to meet them on
the go Otherwise they would sur
round you and devour you in an in
stant.
SO five hundred pounds of rich skins
were dumped from the sleigh and in a.
jiIfy we were off at long, slow gal
Top, a gait that reindeer. like a mus
! tang pony, can keep up twenty-fo1r
hours without q falter. Each one of
| us carried a repeating rifle of sixteen
shots capacity and at our belts long
hunting knives ground to a razor
edge. IL il came to close quarters we
We're capable of making a good fight.
One other precaution we had taken:
that was to bring along a dog, If
there IS one thing that strikes terror
| to a wolf it is the bark of a dog. Cou-
sins though they are. the wild branch
of the family has a deep seated dread
| of his more civilized kinsman and he
will not confront him if there is any
way to avoid il. OF course there are
/ c5~FaTff6V1- nd .e
is when the wolves are lean and hum
cry after weeks Of fasting. Then they
Tear neither man nor beast / have
| seen one tackle a polar bear alone
and give q good account of himself.
Every mans gun was loaded to the
limit of sixteen cartridges. It would
have been wise forethought to bring
along an extra box or so of ammuni
ton, but it was little early in the
| winter-the >7nidd1e Of October-and'
wolves as a rule are not very trouble
| some until much later. So when it
came to the shooting it behooyed us
| to conserve oltr powder. =
The Eskimo boy, who was only "A
years olda WEI he best shot of the
four, 50 il VAS decided that he should
do the firing. ,J<am sure that the lads
presence on that oeeo sion was all that
permits the recuuntiifg Of this narrsf-
I'VE had seen him bring down a
| swiftly living goose at FIVE hundred
Yards and topple q bear off n cake of
ice at thousand Recalling these ex-
| ploits instilled confidence, but then the
| great question was whether he could
retain his nerye-at q critical time. In
= mi Ia,
k There was no intention on our part
10 outdistance the wolves. The plan
was to keep far enough in the lead TO
permit the boy to pick one oft at every
shot. The minute one wolf dropped
the others world stop,to fight over the
| carcass and that would give us about
| three minutes time.
We had gone about a quarter of a
| mile down a long sloping hill when
| the pack appeared over the crest. Ilo.
the boy, slowly and deliberately rested
the barrel of his rifle on the rear of
the sleigh and blazed away A black
| form in the forefront leaped half a
dozen feet in the air and fell prone.
Instantly the others were upon him
yelping and snarling and tearing the
| flesh.
l have heard the long drawn out
| boot Of the night owl in the wllds of
| Arkansas; | have heard the deep
mouthed roar of the mountain lion
| echo through the Rochiea.dn the silent
hours Of early morning; l have heard
the. narrowing wall of the catamount
| IN fhe Dark hills in the shank of the.
| evening, but no sound has ever yet
| reached my ears that chased the cold
shlvers up and down my spinal cord
and made my hair assume a vertical
position as did the fiendish shrek of
| those 800 Arctic wolves as they fed
| upon their fallen brother.
1t was my job to do the driving. and
a noble pair l had too No whip, no
extra urging, was needed. The intel
| lisent beasts knew as we'll as we did
what was expected of them. At the
| first shot they seemed to realize that
| the race was on and with bound
| that pitched me backward they head
ed straight fer East Cape. From then
on, so far rs my partner and 1 and the
old man Were concerned, there was
| nothing to do but wait.
1 The 4Fn1- V-a9 40 Spooofb a =, % l,it1;-..1