WOLVES AND WOLF-HOUNDS. 



199 



would give confidence to the latter and make 

 them ready to rout the wolves out of the 

 thicket, which they would probably have 

 shrunk from doing alone. There was a mo- 

 ment's pause of expectation after the Judge 

 entered the thicket with his hounds. We sat 

 motionless on our horses, eagerly looking 

 through the keen fresh morning air. Then a 

 clamorous baying from the thicket in which 

 both the horseman and dogs had disappeared 

 showed that the hounds had struck the trail 

 of their quarry and were running on a hot 

 scent. For a couple of minutes we could not 

 be quite certain which way the game was go- 

 ing to break. The hounds ran zigzag through 

 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 

 it 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. 

 I 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 



