24 Ranching in the Bad Lands. 



such a quick rush as to take his opponents by surprise, and 

 seized one by the throat ; nor did he let go till the other 

 two tore him almost asunder across the loins. Better luck 

 attended a large mongrel called a sheep dog by his master, 

 but whose blood was apparently about equally derived 

 from collie, Newfoundland, and bulldog. He was a sullen, 

 but very intelligent and determined brute, powerfully built 

 and with strong jaws, and though neither as tall nor as 

 heavy as a wolf he had yet killed two of these animals 

 single-handed. One of them had come into the farm-yard 

 at night, and had taken a young pig, whose squeals roused 

 everybody. The wolf loped off with his booty, the dog 

 running after and overtaking him in the darkness. The 

 struggle was short, for the dog had seized the wolf by the 

 throat and the latter could not shake him off, though he 

 made the most desperate efforts, rising on his hind legs and 

 pressing the dog down with his fore paws. This time the 

 victor escaped scatheless, but in his second fight, when he 

 strangled a still larger wolf, he was severely punished. 

 The wolf had seized a sheep, when the dog, rushing on 

 him, caused him to leave his quarry. Instead of running 

 he turned to bay at once, taking off one of the assailant's 

 ears with a rapid snap. The dog did not get a good hold, 

 and the wolf scored him across the shoulders and flung 

 him off. They then faced each other for a minute and at 

 the next dash the dog made good his throat hold, and 

 throttled the wolf, though the latter contrived to get 

 his foe's foreleg into his jaws and broke it clear through. 

 When I saw the dog he had completely recovered, 

 although pretty well scarred. 



