180 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



closer approach of the sportsman admonishes the wolf to 

 be moving, and off he goes, best foot foremost; but his 

 persecutors are in attendance. A hundred or two yards 

 may be traversed, and again he is brought up standing from 

 a similar cause ; thus the game is played till the wolf is ex- 

 hausted, and the sportsman gets sufficiently close to end 

 the episode by a well-directed pistol- bullet through the 

 grizzly marauder's cranium. 



Spearing the wolf on horseback is also capital sport ; but 

 it takes a great deal out of your nag, for the scoundrel, 

 while fresh, will double almost as sharply as a hare, and 

 from his wonderful lasting powers take you over an im- 

 mense distance, he invariably choosing the roughest ground. 

 In this mode also you must constantly be on the qui vive, 

 for if opportunity offers he will make either your horse or 

 yourself acquainted with his grinders, and a snap from him 

 will be a memento. In the neighborhood of Fort Riley an 

 accident of this kind almost occurred to me. A large gray 

 wolf jumped up before me, and as my horse was fresh and 

 the afternoon cool I made up my mind for a run. Draw- 

 ing my revolver, and taking my nag in hand, we were soon 

 skimming the prairie at a slashing pace. After a mile of 

 this work I ranged alongside, but on several occasions when 

 about to press the trigger the wolf wheeled sharply to the 

 right or left, once very nearly throwing my nag on his head. 

 More determined to draw blood from the trick practiced 

 on me, I was soon again at his tail ; but the foe tried a 

 new and quite unexpected ruse, viz., suddenly slackening 

 his pace, and as I overshot him, making a most wicked 

 snap at my off foot, which fortunately was protected by a 

 heavy cow-hide boot; but the indentation showed that a 

 lighter covering would have caused me to regret my prow- 

 ess. 



If ever you visit the Western prairies you will not re- 



