LIFE IN THE FAR WEST 83 



the rifles and arrows of the hunters had bereaved of 

 their mothers. The white wolf is the invariable atten- 

 dant upon the buffalo ; and when one of these persever- 

 ing animals is seen, it is certain sign that buffalo are 

 not far distant. Besides the buffalo wolf, there are four 

 distinct varieties common to the plains, and all more or 

 less attendant upon the buffalo. These are, the black, 

 the gray, the brown, and last and least the coyote, or 

 cayeute of the mountaineers, the " wach-unkamanet" 

 or "medicine wolf of the Indians, who hold the 

 latter animal in reverential awe. This little wolf, whose 

 fur is of great thickness and beauty, is of diminutive 

 size, but wonderfully sagacious, making up by cunning 

 what it wants in physical strength. In bands of from 

 three to thirty they not unfrequently station themselves 

 along the " runs " of the deer and the antelope, extend- 

 ing their line for many miles ; and the quarry being 

 started, each wolf follows in pursuit until tired, when it 

 relinquishes the chase to another relay, following slowly 

 after until the animal is fairly run down, when all hurry 

 to the spot and speedily consume the carcass. The 

 cayeute, however, is often made a tool of by his larger 

 brethren, unless, indeed, he acts from motives of spon- 

 taneous charity. When a hunter has slaughtered game, 

 and is in the act of butchering it, these little wolves sit 

 patiently at a short distance from the scene of opera- 

 tions, while at a more respectful one the larger wolves 

 (the white or gray) lope hungrily around, licking their 

 chops in hungry expectation. Not unfrequently the 

 hunter throws a piece of meat towards the smaller one, 



