00-KOO-HOO PLAYS THE GAME 147 



recounts a remarkable instance of persevering fortitude ex- 

 hibited by a large, dark wolf caught in a steel trap at Isle a la 

 Crosse many years ago. A month afterward it was killed 

 near Green Lake, ninety miles distant, with the trap and con- 

 necting wood-block still attached to one of its hind legs. It had 

 evidently dragged both around in the snow for many a mile, 

 during a period of intense cold, and it is, therefore, not sur- 

 prising that it was a 'walking skeleton' when finally secured." 



Though the timber-wolf is a fast traveller, it cannot out- 

 distance the greyhound or wolf hound; but though it is seldom 

 seen in water it is a good swimmer. Its weight may run from 

 seventy-five to one hundred and fifty pounds, and an extra 

 large wolf may stand close to thirty inches at the shoulder, 

 and be over five feet in length. In colour they range from white 

 to nearly black, but the ordinary colour is a light brownish gray. 

 Usually they mate in February, but whether or not for life, it is 

 hard to say. They breed in a hollow log, or tree or stump, or 

 in a hole in the ground, or in a cave. The young are normally 

 born in April, usually six or eight in a litter, and the father helps 

 to care for them. 



Many of the wolves I have seen were running in pairs, some 

 in families, and the greatest number I have ever seen together 

 was seven. That was in Athabasca in the winter time. The 

 seven were in a playful mood, racing around and jumping over 

 one another; and though all were full-grown, five of them dis- 

 played the romping spirits of puppies, and I wondered if they 

 could be but one family. Though my dog-driver and I, with 

 our dog-train, passed within about a hundred paces of them, 

 and though we were all on a sunny lake, they never ceased 

 their play for a single moment, nor did they show in any way 

 that they had seen us. 



There are several voices of the wilderness that cause some 

 city people alarm and dread, and they are the voices of the 

 owl, the loon, and the timber-wolf. But to me their voices 



