458 BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA. 



race, I endeavored to make him give tongue, but failed. 

 Like a hound without a scent, he vi^as silent. I could not 

 induce him to utter a sound; nor did he attempt either to 

 snarl or growl. I noticed that when I stepped off a few paces, 

 at each step he raised his body until standing at his full 

 height. At each step as I approached him again, he lowered 

 himself gradually until flat on the ground, with his head 

 between his paws, in which position he remained as long as 

 I stood beside him. He seemed exceedingly shy and timor- 

 ous, but made no attempt to escape; while lie was far too 

 cunning to display any ferocity. An otter, a fisher, or a 

 marten would have snarled, growled, and fought viciously 

 under similar conditions, 



I feel convinced that with a dog-collar and chain, after 

 freeing him from the trap, I could without difficulty have 

 led him home, I put this idea to the test in the following 

 manner: For the purpose of fastening the trap, I cut down a 

 balsam sapling, about three inches in diameter, the root end 

 of which I cut off square. Into this I drove a staple, to 

 which I locked the chain of the tra^j with a small padlock. 

 I then planted the tree precisely in the position in which it 

 grew, and where the Wolves had been in the habit of seeing 

 it, night after niglit, for weeks. 



When I had completed my zoological experiments, never 

 then expecting to tell my readers anything about them, I 

 unlocked the trap, and walked quietly off toward home. 

 The Wolf got up and followed me, without any resistance, 

 for about a quarter of a mile, when I accidentally tripped 

 over a large pine-root and fell. Had I not known something 

 about the history and character of my companion, there 

 might then and there have occurred a tragedy. The instant 

 I fell, and before I attempted to rise, I turned my head 

 quickly and looked my prisoner straight in the eye, I 

 found him with eyes flashing and his whole body gathered 

 for a spring. The moment I caught his eye, he cowered 

 before my gaze. Had I not been promj)t, it is quite possible 

 that my present story might never have been told. How- 

 ever, I was young, strong, and active then, and the reader 



