n 4 AN AMERICAN HUNTER 



he not seized the animal just as he did; that is, behind the 

 canines, while his hand pressed the lips against the teeth; 

 with his knees he kept the wolf from using its forepaws 

 to break the hold, until it gave up struggling. When he 

 thus leaped on and captured this coyote it was entirely 

 free, the dog having let go of it; and he was obliged to 

 keep hold of the reins of his horse with one hand. I was 

 not twenty yards distant at the time, and as I leaped off 

 the horse he was sitting placidly on the live wolf, his 

 hand between its jaws, the greyhound standing beside 

 him, and his horse standing by as placid as he was. In 

 a couple of minutes Fortescue and Lambert came up. It 

 was as remarkable a feat of the kind as I have ever seen. 



Through some oversight we had no straps with us, 

 and Abernethy had lost the wire which he usually carried 

 in order to tie up the wolves' muzzles for he habitually 

 captured his wolves in this fashion. However, Abernethy 

 regarded the lack of straps as nothing more than a slight 

 bother. Asking one of us to hold his horse, he threw 

 the wolf across in front of the saddle, still keeping his 

 grip on the lower jaw, then mounted and rode off with 

 us on the back track. The wolf was not tied in any way. 

 It was unhurt, and the only hold he had was on its lower 

 jaw. I was surprised that it did not strive to fight with 

 its legs, but after becoming satisfied that it could not bite, 

 it seemed to resign itself to its fate, was fairly quiet, and 

 looked about with its ears pricked forward. The wolves 

 which I subsequently saw him capture, and, having tied 

 up their muzzles, hold before him on the saddle, acted 

 in precisely the same manner. 



