Badlands Billy 
killed, and every cowboy out of work, was sup- 
plied with traps and poison for wolf-killing. 
The very expert made this their sole business 
and became known as wolvers. King Ryder 
was one of these. He was a quiet, gentle- 
spoken fellow, with a keen eye and an insight 
into animal life that gave him especial power 
over Broncos and Dogs, as well as Wolves and 
Bears, though in the last two cases it was 
power merely to surmise where they were and 
how best to get at them. He had been a 
wolver for years, and greatly surprised me by 
saying that “never in all his experience had 
he known a Gray-wolf to attack a human 
being.” 
We had many camp-fire talks while the other 
men were sleeping, and then it was I learned 
the little that he knew about Badlands Billy. 
“Six times have I seen him and the seventh 
will be Sunday, you bet. He takes his long 
rest then.” And thus on the very ground 
where it all fell out, to the noise of the night 
wind and the yapping of the Coyote, interrupted 
sometimes by the deep-drawn howl of the hero 
himself, I heard chapters of this history which, 
Eis 
