THE WOLF OF MUSKOKA 151 



at hand, and then, without warning, everything 

 would become gradually hushed and silent. 

 Half an hour has passed, and I have become 

 restless and incautious ; wandering, perhaps, a 

 few yards from the sheltering tree-trunk, hoping 

 to hear a hail to another run. Then, suddenly, 

 I have heard an animal swiftly rushing towards 

 me, and, with barely time to raise my rifle, a 

 fine buck has bounded by, giving me a scare 

 and start, such as one experiences when flushing 

 a covey of partridges from a turnip-field. 



" The swamp was bordered on one side by 

 a thick undergrowth of saplings, and as I stood 

 looking in this direction, they quickly parted 

 hither and thither. To my surprise, first one 

 and then the other of my Indian ponies appeared, 

 and I caught the sound of the distant howl of 

 wolves." 



Seventy or eighty years ago wolves abounded 

 in Muskoka in extraordinary numbers, and an 

 old trapper assured me he had known them to 

 attack and destroy two men camped in the woods. 

 This seems to agree with the opinion of Audubon 

 and Bachman, so I may repeat what he told me. 



A single wolf will never attack a man, and 

 even three or four attracted by hunger to his 



