THE WOLF HUNTERS 



At noon when the men came in to dinner they 

 reported that they had raked up a good load of the 

 hay that had been scattered, and in the afternoon 

 they took the mules and wagon with them and 

 Tom brought the first load to camp on returning 

 in the evening, while Jack remained and began 

 skinning the dead buffalo. When I joined him 

 we soon stripped the hide off, applied the strych- 

 nine to the carcass, and left it for the wolves. 



"First come, first served, will be the rule here 

 to-night," I remarked as we started to camp. 

 *'The first wolves to reach the bait will probably 

 get laid out before they have time to get half 

 a feed, while those that come later may not get 

 strychnine enough to give them a bellyache.'* 



**How many do you expect to find in the morn- 

 ing?" asked Jack. 



"Oh, about eight or ten for the first night will 

 be a pretty fair haul; but by to-morrow night I'll 

 poison the bait again, and by that time it ought 

 to catch more — maybe as many as twelve or fif- 

 teen — for the scent of the dead buffalo will then 

 attract them from a greater distance." 



I did even better than I anticipated, for next 

 morning I found thirteen dead wolves lying around 

 the bait awaiting my skinning knife. Jack re- 

 mained in camp until I had skinned the wolves, 

 brought in the pelts and pegged them down to 

 dry, after which he took the team and went out 

 to the hay-field where Tom was mowing. 



142 



