OF A RANCHMAN 43 



bowlings have a most ventriloquial effect, 

 they are often thought to be much more 

 plentiful than they are. During the day- 

 time they lie hid in caves or in some patch 

 of bush, and will let a man pass right by 

 them without betraying their presence. Oc- 

 casionally somebody runs across them by ac- 

 cident. A neighboring ranchman to me 

 once stumbled, while riding an unshod pony, 

 right into the midst of four wolves who 

 \\ ere lying in some tall, rank grass, and shot 

 one with his revolver and crippled another 

 before they could get away. But such an 

 accident as this is very rare; and when, by 

 any chance, the wolf is himself abroad in 

 the daytime he keeps such a sharp look-out, 

 and is so wary, that it is almost impossible 

 to get near him, and he gives every human 

 being a wide berth. At night it is differ- 

 ent. The wolves then wander far and wide, 

 often coming up round the out-buildings of 

 the ranches; I have seen in light snow the 

 tracks of two that had walked round the 

 house within fifty feet of it. I have never 



