POISONING WOLVES. 285 



an end to our hunt in that direction, and obliged us to 

 retrace our steps. 



The next morning we moved back to Beaver Creek and there 

 met with a very heavy snow-storm, and the wind was so cold 

 that we could not travel; so we remained there two days, 

 killing one white-tailed deer. Soon after leaving Beaver 

 Creek we saw a huge wolf walking very slowly ahead of us, 

 having apparently no strength to get away, and on shooting 

 him we found that he had been poisoned and was going away 

 to die. When I first went to America I took strychnine for 

 poisoning wolves ; but after seeing one dying from its effects 

 I never used it again. T.:o rro.iy must be awful, the animal 

 being in the form of a half circle when dead, his back arched, 

 while his coat stands on end, and the lips are drawn back, 

 showing the teeth. The fur of a trapped animal is worth much 

 more than that of a poisoned one, and the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany refuse any which have been killed in that way, as the hair 

 is said to come out after the skin is dressed. 



On reaching Buffalo Creek we stopped a few miles above our 

 old camp, and once more had capital sport, especially with the 

 turkeys. We remained a few days here and then went on to 

 Denison, which we reached in nine days, and [sold all our out- 

 fit. When going round to say good-bye to the friends we had 

 made we heard a very strange story, which I will give here. 



When we were fitting out at this place in September, we 

 had bought some things at a store kept by^two men (a German 

 and an Irishman) ; but finding them very rough, every third 

 word being an oath, and both of them generally the worse for 

 liquor, we had got the remainder of our outfit elsewhere. 

 About two months after we left the German died, and when 



