60 



Gen. Putnam's adventure with a wolf. 



burnt brimstone could compel her to quit her re- 

 tirement. 



Wearied with these fruitless attempts, which 

 had continued nearly twelve hours, Mr. Putnam 

 proposed to his negro servant to go down into 

 the cavern and shoot the wolf; and on his de- 

 clining the hazardous service, the general re- 

 solved himself to destroy the ferocious animal, 

 k'st she should escape through some unknown 

 fissure of the rock. Accordingly, having provid- 

 ed himself with several strips of birch bark, to 

 light him in this darksome cave, he pulled off his 

 coat and waistcoat, and having a long rope fas- 

 tened round his legs, by which he might be 

 drawn back at a concerted signal, he entered 

 head foremost, with the blazing torch in his 

 hand. 



The aperture of the cave, on the east side of a 

 high ledge of rocks, is about two feet square : 

 from thence it descends obliquely fifteen feet, 

 and then running horizontally about ten more, it 

 ascends gradually sixteen feet towards its termi- 

 nation. The sides of this cavity consist of 

 smooth solid rocks, which seem to have been di- 

 vided from each other by an earthquake. The 

 top and bottom are also composed of stone, and 

 the entrance, in winter, being covered with ice, 

 is extremely slippery. It is in no place high 

 enough for a man to raise himself upright, nor 

 in any part more than three feet broad. 



