286 FORESTS OF SCOTLAND. 



body was within the narrow entrance of the cavern. He 

 had, unluckily, placed his gun against a rock when aiding 

 the boys in their descent, and could not now reach it. 

 Without apprising the lads below of their imminent peril, 

 the stout hunter kept a firm grip of the wolf's tail, which 

 he wound round his left arm ; and although the maddened 

 brute scrambled, and twisted, and strove with all her might, 

 to force herself down to the rescue of her cubs, Poison was 

 just able, with the exertion of all his strength, to keep her 

 from going forward. In the midst of this singular struggle, 

 which passed in silence, for the wolf was mute, and the 

 hunter, either from the engrossing nature of his exertions 

 or from his unwillingness to alarm the boys, spake not a 

 word at the commencement of the conflict, his son within 

 the cave, finding the light excluded from above for so long 

 a space, asked in Gaelic, and in an abrupt tone, " Father, 

 what is keeping the light from us ?" " If the root of the 

 tail breaks," replied he, " you will soon know that." Before 

 long, however, the man contrived to get hold of his hunting 

 knife and stabbed the wolf in the most vital parts he could 

 reach. The enraged animal now attempted to turn and face 

 her foe, but the hole was too narrow to allow of this ; and 

 when Poison saw his danger he squeezed her forward, keep- 

 ing her jammed in, whilst he repeated his stabs as rapidly 

 as he could, until the animal, being mortally wounded, was 

 easily dragged back and finished.* 



These were the last wolves killed in Sutherland, and the 

 den was between Craig-Rhadich and Craig- Voakie, by the 

 narrow Glen of Loth, a place replete with objects connected 

 with traditionary legends. The conflict of Drumderg was 



* Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, has a story somewhat similar to this, 

 which probably he got from the Sutherland drovers ; but, in his desire to 

 change the circumstances, and make the tale his own, he has fallen into an 

 error which lessens its probability. He introduces a wild boar as the 

 animal held back by the tail, and not a wolf, although the tail of that 

 animal is proverbially short, and of slender dimensions, and could hardly 

 be grasped firmly by the hand ; a sow or boar also invariably roars out 

 most lustily when seized or obstructed, and hence the person in Hogg's 

 cavern must have known from such sounds the cause of obstruction of the 

 light without further inquiry. In Poison's exploit, which was a true one, 

 he had the advantage of grasping the long and rough tail of the wolf ; and 

 he wounded an animal that dies without complaining as a sow does, and 

 which, according to BufFon, "never howls under correction like a dog, but 

 defends himself in silence, and dies as hard as he lived." 



