238 Hunting the Grisly 



the brush, as we could tell by their baying, 

 and once some yelping and a great row 

 showed that they had come rather closer than 

 they had expected upon at least one of the 

 wolves. 



In another minute, however, the latter found 

 U too hot for them and bolted from the thicket. 

 My first notice of this was seeing the cowboy, 

 who was standing by the side of his horse, 

 suddenly throw up his rifle and fire, while the 

 greyhounds who had been springing high in 

 the air, half maddened by the clamor in the 

 thicket below, for a moment dashed off the 

 wrong way, confused by the report of the gun. 

 1 rode for all I was worth to where the cow- 

 boy stood, and instantly caught a glimpse of 

 two wolves, grizzled-gray and brown, which, 

 having been turned by his shot, had started 

 straight over the hill across the plain toward 

 the mountains three miles away. As soon as 

 I saw them I also saw that the rearmost of 

 the couple had been hit somewhere in the 

 body and was lagging behind, the blood run- 

 ning from its flanks, while the two greyhounds 

 were racing after it; and at the same moment 

 the track-hounds and the big dogs burst out 

 of the thicket, yelling savagely as they struck 

 the bloody trail. The wolf was hard hit, and 



