Wolf-Coursing 



a long-legged, slab-sided, six-foot Kentuckian, 

 mounted on a "States" horse; Zach, an out- 

 and-out typical cowboy, who had come up 

 from Texas on the trail, mounted on a pinto 

 that did not look as though he had been fed 

 since his arrival in the territory, but, as Zach 

 knowingly remarked, " No route was too long 

 or pace too hot for him"; Steamboat in the 

 buckboard, holding with a pair of slips Dan, 

 an English greyhound, and Scotty, a Scotch 

 deerhound ; while the other dogs, consisting 

 of a pair of young greyhounds, a pair of 

 cross-bred grey and deerhounds, and Lead, an 

 old-time Southern foxhound, were making the 

 horses miserable by jumping first at their 

 heads, then at their heels, in their eagerness 

 to facilitate the start ; and myself on the buck- 

 ing broncho. 



While crossing the creek a few hundred 

 yards above the ranch, I heard old Lead give 

 mouth, a short distance ahead, in a chapar- 

 ral rendered impenetrable by tangled under- 

 growth, and which formed secure covert for 

 countless varmints. Knowing that he never 

 threw his tongue without cause, I dug my 

 spurs into my horse, with the intention of 

 joining him. But I reckoned without my host, 



329 



