The Wolf 327 



all directions. Hunters by thousands were in search of it 

 for months, and in the meantime its howl was heard in 

 village streets at night, children and women were killed in 

 their farmyards, woodcutters lost their lives in forests, 

 and men were dragged out of vehicles on the public roads 

 by day. 



At last the Sieur de la Chaumette, a famous wolf slayer, 

 appeared upon the scene. His two brothers accompanied 

 him, and they actually found and wounded the animal. 

 The chase was taken up by him again, and he was joined 

 by a party of hunters picked from the most expert forest- 

 ers of fifty parishes. It was in vain, however, for they 

 never viewed their quarry again. In September, 1765, the 

 Sieur de Blanterne, in company with two associates, shot 

 the wild beast of Gevaudan, which had ravaged a large re- 

 gion of Southern France for nearly a year. The carcass 

 was sent to Paris, and proved to be that of an enormous 

 wolf. 



A creature capable of killing one man, is able, all things 

 being equal, to kill a dozen or a hundred. 



Wolves' ravages are at present confined to places from 

 which we have no reports, and that is the reason why pub- 

 lic opinion always places such occurrences in the past. In 

 all essentials wolves are potentially the same as ever, but 

 their relations to mankind differ according to geographical 

 position. In one place they are harmless and timid, in 

 another they are aggressive and dangerous. Throughout 

 the Arctic regions of the earth, where one might imagine 

 that privation would render them audacious, they generally 

 avoid the presence of human beings and are not often 



