WOLVES AND WOLF-HOUNDS. 



191 



a rush at him, while the other stole round to 

 get at the kid. The dam, as always with 

 these spirited little prong-bucks, made a good 

 fight, and kept the assailants at bay ; yet I 

 think they would have succeeded in the end, 

 had I not interfered. Coyotes are bold and 

 cunning in raiding the settlers' barn-yards for 

 lambs and hens ; and they have an especial 

 liking for tame cats. If there are coyotes in 

 the neighborhood a cat which gets into the 

 habit of wandering from home is surely lost. 

 Though, I have never known wolves to 

 attack a man, yet in the wilder portion of the 

 far Northwest I have heard them come around 

 camp very close, growling so savagely as to 

 make one almost reluctant to leave the camp 

 fire and go out into the darkness unarmed. 

 Once I was camped in the fall near a lonely 

 little lake in the mountains, by the edge of 

 quite a broad stream. Soon after nightfall 

 three or four wolves came around camp and 

 kept me awake by their sinister and dismal 

 howling. Two or three times they came so 

 close to the fire that I could hear them snap 

 their jaws and growl, and at one time I posi- 

 tively thought that they intended to try to get 

 into camp, so excited were they by the smell, 

 of the fresh meat. After a while they stopped 

 howling ; and then all was silent for an hour 

 or so. I let the fire go out and was turning 

 into bed when I suddenly heard some animal 

 of considerable size come dowix to the stream 

 nearly opposite me and begin to splash across, 

 first wading, then swimming. It was pitch 



