NOTES FROM THE PRAIRIE 105 



of US were riding in an open wagon on one 

 Beat. The road ran for about a mile through 

 the woods, and as we entered it four or five 

 gray wolves sprang out at us ; the horse needed 

 no urging, you may be sure, but to me it 

 seemed an age before we got out into the 

 moonlight on the prairie; then the wolves 

 slunk back into the woods. Every leap they 

 made it seemed as if they would jump into the 

 wagon. I could hear them strike against the 

 back of it and hear their teeth click together as 

 they barely missed my hand where I held on to 

 the seat to keep from being thrown out. My 

 most prominent desire about that time was to 

 sit in the middle and let some one else have the 



outside seat. 



"Grandfather was very fond of trapping, 

 and used to catch a great many wolves for their 

 skins and the bounty; also minks and musk- 

 rats. I always had to help skin them, which 

 I considered dreadful, especially skinning the 

 muskrats; but as that was the only condition 

 under which I was allowed to go along, of 

 course I submitted, for I wouldn't miss the 

 excitement of seeing whether we had succeeded 

 in outwitting and catching the sly creatures for 

 any consideration. The beautiful minks, with 

 their slender satiny bodies, it seemed a pity to 

 catch them. Muskrats I had no sympathy for, 

 they looked so ratty, and had so unpleasant a 

 smell The gophers were one of the greatest 

 plagues the farmers had. The ground would 

 be dotted with their mounds, so round and 



