22 A WOLF RUN DOWN. 



As Laronde told me that my horse had run into a wolf on 

 the open prairie, I determined to try and do it again ; so I 

 started alone one day and tried all the high grass I could find, 

 but saw no wolves, but as I was going back to camp one came 

 on to the top of a ridge close to me, not knowing that I was so 

 near, so I put my horse to his best and raced after him ; I did 

 not gain a yard during the first mile, but went gradually up to 

 him in the second, and after he had thrown me out twice by 

 turning suddenly, I rode right over him, and fired as I passed, 

 hitting him and wounding him slightly, but I caught him very 

 easily the second time and killed him. This sort of thing does 

 not answer, however, when your horses are doing hard work 

 and have no food but grass, so I did not do it again. 



I tried the bloodhound several times after wolves, but he only 

 caught one, and then we were not with him, as he had worn us 

 all out and run away from us. He came back, however, in the 

 evening with his jaws covered with blood and with marks of 

 bites on him, so altogether he was a failure, especially as 

 he hated the very sight of an Indian, and had to be tied up 

 when any were in camp or he would have attacked them at 

 once. 



One evening we were startled by the arrival of three Indians 

 in camp. It was getting dark, but we had not yet put on our 

 first guard, so they took us entirely by surprise, coming in on 

 foot so quietly that no one saw them till they were standing by 

 the fire. They were apparently Assineboines, but had Sioux 

 moccasins ; these have a raw hide sole, while the Crees and 

 Assineboines make theirs without a separate sole, the same 

 leather going all round. They told us that they had lost their 

 way, and seeing the fire had come to it. This was an utterly 



