EPISODES 499 



for the night at a farmer's house by the side of the road. 

 After putting up my horse and refreshing myself, I en- 

 tered into conversation with mine host, who asked if I 

 should like to pay a visit to the Wolf-pits, which were 

 about half a mile distant. Glad of the opportunity I 

 accompanied him across the fields to the neighborhood of 

 a deep wood, and soon saw the engines of destruction. 

 He had three pits, within a few hundred yards of each 

 other. They were about eight feet deep and broader at 

 bottom, so as to render it impossible for the most active 

 animal to escape from them. The aperture was covered 

 with a revolving platform of twigs attached to a central 

 axis. On either surface of the platform was fastened a 

 large piece of putrid venison, with other matters by no 

 means pleasing to my olfactory nerves, although no doubt 

 attractive to the Wolves. My companion wished to visit 

 them that evening, merely as he was in the habit of doing 

 so daily, for the purpose of seeing that all was right. He 

 said that Wolves were very abundant that autumn, and 

 had killed nearly the whole of his sheep and one of his 

 colts, but that he was now "paying them off in full ; " and 

 added that if I would tarry a few hours with him next 

 morning, he would beyond a doubt show me some sport 

 rarely seen in those parts. We retired to rest in due 

 time, and were up with the dawn. 



" I think," said my host, "that all 's right, for I see the 

 dogs are anxious to get away to the pits, and although 

 they are nothing but curs, their noses are none the worse 

 for that." As he took up his gun, an axe, and a large 

 knife, the dogs began to howl and bark, and whisked 

 around us, as if full of joy. When we reached the first 

 pit, we found the bait all gone, and the platform much 

 injured; but the animal that had been entrapped had 

 scraped a subterranean passage for himself, and so es- 

 caped. On peeping into the next, he assured me that 

 "three famous fellows were safe enough" in it. I also 



