152 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



preparations for his death at once, and see that he is tied 

 in such a manner that he cannot injure others. An Indian 

 has been known to escape the effects of a bite, however, by 

 merely drinking a decoction of some herbs known to his 

 tribe and bathing the wound in warm water. What this 

 most potential herb was I could not learn, nor did my men- 

 tor ever hear its name even in the Indian vernacular. 



Having returned to the cubs and tied them up in the 

 bags, we started for home ; but before we got out of the 

 woods a young dog-wolf broke cover almost under our nose. 

 How on earth he remained there undisturbed after the pre- 

 vious scouring of the region we could not understand, nor 

 could we determine how his presence escaped the keen nose 

 of the hounds. A look into his lair revealed the latter rea- 

 son very promptly, for that contained some dead hares, one 

 of which was scarcely touched. Having had plenty provi- 

 sion in the house, he had not stirred out during the night 

 or the day, and his footsteps could not therefore be dogged. 

 When he went away, however, he went in a hurry ; for we 

 both gave a tremendous shout that caused him to clap his 

 tail almost up to the root between his legs, and to round 

 himself into a hump, as if he had an elastic spinal column ; 

 but when he heard the baying of the hounds behind him 

 he straightened out the hump, put his nose close to the 

 ground, and scudded away with all the speed that deadly 

 terror could impart. Out of the woods he broke, and over 

 the plains, with the pack in full cry behind him. Being 

 hampered by the cubs, we did not attempt to follow, but, 

 on mounting a knoll, we had a fine view of the run until 

 it vanished from our sight behind one of the long hillocks 

 near which a rivulet ran. " Something is the matter with 

 the wolves here just now," said my companion, " else they 

 would not break for the open so soon ; for they generally 

 keep in the woods and rough places as long as they possi- 

 bly can, and get away from shelter only when close pressed, 

 and they see no other means of escape." 



"But what about the first?" said I. "Oh! she was 

 trying to lead the dogs away from her young," was the 



