18S9 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



811) 



cinity I would dig down and see where the 

 water went to, and may be have a cave or 

 cavern of my own. He finally acknowledg- 

 ed that there were places in their vicinity 

 where the water poured into these chim- 

 ney-holes and came out on the banks of a 

 river half a mile away. lie said he knew it 

 was the same water, on account of the col- 

 or of the soil that washed into the hole and 

 then came out as stated. Well, this made 

 the study of Grant County of very much 

 more interest to me during my whole visit. 

 I wonder how many of my juvenile friends 

 read what I said about the " machinery of 

 the universe." 



I told you about friend France's museum, 

 where he had all sorts of wild animals stuff- 

 ed, and fixed up so they looked exactly like 

 life. He has for many years been a great 

 wolf-hunter; and the funny part about it is, 

 that, when he hunts wolves, he does not 

 have any gun or dogs, nor even a pistol or a 

 bowie-knife. When the wolves are killing 

 sheep, and the folks can not catch the 

 wolves, they send for friend France. He 

 just starts off by himself, peeking about 

 here and there with those sharp eyes of his, 

 noticing a thousand things that you and I 

 would never have noticed at all, and by and 

 by he gets the wolf, and the cubs too. Per- 

 haps most of you have heard the story of 

 General Putnam, who crawled into the den 

 of a fierce, bloodthirsty wolf, grabbed it by 

 the ears, while his friends pulled him out with 

 a rope attached to his feet. Friend France 

 said, that, to one who is acquainted with 

 the habits and nature of the wolf, this was 

 no wonderful thing at all. He said he had 

 crawled into wolves' dens, and got them 

 out, over and over again. Years ago there 

 was an old she-wolf that made a terrible 

 havoc among the sheep in the vicinity of 

 that very mound (or mountain), which to 

 me was an unceasing wonder as it raised its 

 head against the eastern sky. He tracked 

 the wolf up into a den, or sort of cave, on 

 the north side of the mound, where the hill 

 is so steep that nobody can climb it. He 

 hired a man to go with him, and they ap- 

 proached the cave just at nightfall. This 

 cave was formed by a large rock resting 

 against the mountain-side ; and as a good 

 deal of dirt had settled down under it, the 

 crevice where the wolves crawled in and 

 out was hardly large enough for a man of 

 the size of friend France. So he took along 

 a hoe, and dug the dirt away so he could 

 get in. As it was so near night they decid- 

 ed to lie down and keep watch until morn- 

 ing. They judged that the old she-wolf was 

 outside, because, during the hours of the 

 night, they coidd hear a constant cat-like 

 tread, or stepping, on the leaves and twigs 

 above and below the entrance. Before 

 very long his companion g t frightened by 

 the howling of the wolves, and went away, 

 leaving friend France alone. 



" But, didn't you keep up a big fire to 

 keep the wolves away? " 



"Fire ! " ejaculated he ; " what did 1 want 

 of fire?" 



'"Why, so the wolves would not eat you 

 up." 



"Well, I; reckon they would have had 



tough chewing if they had set out on that 

 job." 



Morning finally came, and with his hoe he 

 proceeded to make the cave big enough so 

 he could get in. Then he plugged it up 

 with a stone so the mother-wolf would not 

 get in behind and bother him, and then he 

 went for the cubs. After considerable dig- 

 ging he got hold of them; and, taking one 

 under each arm, he carefully backed out ; 

 then he went back for another ; but, proba- 

 bly getting a little elated at the pile of 

 money he was going to get for their scalps, 

 he made a little too much haste and bumped 

 the head of one of the cubs against a pro- 

 jecting rock. At this the little chap set up 

 a piteous whine ; and you can imagine his 

 consternation on hearing the deep, fierce, 

 angry growl from the mother, who was not 

 outside after all, but right there back of her 

 cubs. Now, during all this time he had not 

 so much as a match in his pocket. He 

 crawled out with his cubs, however, laid 

 them down by the others, put some matches 

 in his pocket, and, armed with a spear 

 which he sometimes took along for such 

 emergencies, he went back into the den. 

 When he got where he expected the war to 

 begin, he scratched a match. As its feeble 

 blaze lighted up the gloom within, the first 

 object which he beheld was the mother- 

 wolf, with open mouth, and eyes glaring like 

 coals of fire. He thought first of pushing 

 the spear right into her mouth ; but experi- 

 ence had shown that this was not the best 

 way. He had time, by the fitful glimmer, 

 only to lower his spear toward the region of 

 her heart, when she made an angry spring, 

 so fierce that, when she struck the point of 

 the spear, it threw him, spear and all, over 

 back until the back end of the spear struck 

 on a projecting rock, driving the blade clear 

 through her body. He trudged home, not 

 only with the scalp of the mother, but, if I 

 recollect aright, four or five cubs. He says 

 nothing is to be feared from wolves unless 

 they come in great droves. They are sneak- 

 ing, cowardly, and afraid even to look a 

 courageous man in the eye. If they can 

 sneak around behind so as to grab one's 

 coat-tails they may venture an attack in 

 that way when very hungry. 



On going home late one night he was ad- 

 monished by a friend to take a dog along, 

 as it was certainly unsafe. It was in the 

 winter time, and very soon he could see the 

 wolves dodging behind him. The dog be- 

 came frightened, and ran for his life. For 

 several miles, two wolves kept so close to 

 him that they actually snapped their teeth 

 at his coat-tails; but he said. that, so long 

 as there were only two of them, he let them 

 snap all they wished to, thinking he could 

 stand it if they could. When they got 

 through the woods into the clearing, they 

 skidked off. 



At another time he was employed to catch 

 a she-wolf with several young ones. The 

 young ones were too small to be afraid, and 

 in a little while*he had taken their scalps 

 and buried the bodies. His employers, how- 

 ever, complained bitterly because he caught 

 the cubs and let the mother go, insinuating 

 that this was a game of the wolf-hunters, to 



