70 



THE CABINET OP NATURAL HISTORY 



two miles of the foot of the hill, when I saw the rascal 

 about three hundred yards ahead, and he saw me at the 

 same time. We now had it as hard as we could lay to, 

 and I saw that I gained on him but slowly, and being with- 

 in one hundred and seventy -five yards of him, I fired just 

 as he was quartering on me, but he kept his course, and 

 rose a high mountain immediately before us. I re-loaded, 

 and proceeded on, and found that he had dropped in the 

 snow so often, as to evince the greatest fatigue, and nothing 

 but his very life stimulated him on. On this mountain 

 were many windfalls, and other difficult places, almost im- 

 passable for man, and had we been in chase of any other 

 animal but the " three-legged Wolf," the number of diffi- 

 culties at this time would have disheartened us, but we 

 were intent on victory, and our infatuation blinded us to 

 difficulties, and made us callous to sufl'ering. Brewer did 

 not hear my rifle, but it appears that he persevered until he 

 came to the spot just described, when he gave up and went 

 home, and told the neighbours that he was certain that 

 W — and myself would kill the Wolf before, as we had 

 nearly killed him behind us. Our antagonist kept his 

 course on this hill for seven miles, but it being covered 

 with underbrush, we could not gain on him: the sun was 

 gliding behind the distant hills, and the Wolf having so 

 much start of us, we concluded to look out for quarters to 

 spend the night; we accordingly ascended a high point on 

 the mountain, and in a valley two miles distant we saw a 

 house, whither we proceeded, and were immediately recog- 

 nised by a young man, an inmate of the dwelling; he in- 

 quired of us "what brought us there in our hunting dress, 

 and with rifles." We told him we were after the "three- 

 legged Wolf." "Ah," says he, "I know him well; I 

 hope you will not leave him here, for only three weeks 

 since he killed eleven sheep in one night for us, and last win- 

 ter he killed eighteen others; has he not lost part of his left 

 fore foot?" We told him we were satisfied that he knew 

 him, as that was his description, and that we would never 

 give him up until we destroj'ed him, unless a snow should 

 fall so as to obliterate his track. This was fifty-two miles 

 from our homes, in a direct line, and I have no doubt we 

 run that day sixty miles, as we were then near Delhi, in 

 the upper part of the county. 



We were treated with great hopitality by this family, 

 whose name was Wilson, and every thing was done, to make 

 us and our dogs comfortable, that could be devised; after 

 drinking some tea and eating but little, we found that sleep 

 was more desirable than any thing else, and we retired to 

 rest. Our dogs did not reach the house for some time after 

 our arrival, and then they were in a wretched condition; 

 but the family exercised great humanity towards them, 

 especially the children, who had taken them into the par- 



lour, and were rubbing them with dry napkins. We had 

 requested the family to prepare us breakfast, and call us be- 

 fore daylight, and so anxious were they to afflDrd us very 

 facility, that the children took turns in sitting up all night, 

 for fear we might oversleep ourselves. When we arose, we 

 found a repast prepared for us, with some doe-nuts to eat 

 through the day. This, generally, was our daily food, 

 and for drink we would catch up a handful of snow, as we 

 ran, not allowing ourselves sufficient time to slake our 

 thirst at a brook. 



Before light we started, and tracked our way up the 

 mountain, and I can candidly say, I never felt better than 

 at that time; my spirits were buoyant, and I trod with 

 lighter footstep than any day previous: this was the fourth 

 day of our hunt. I asked Capt. W — how he felt; says he, 

 " I feel well, victory to-day, to-day tlie Wolf must die." 

 But we felt keenly for our poor dogs; for, although they 

 had been so well nursed, yet they could not move a step 

 scarcely, without crying; and thus they continued yelping 

 until they had followed us some miles. We would have 

 left them at the farm-house, but they howled so terribly, 

 we were obliged to let them follow us. About light, we 

 got on the Wolf's track again, aud within three lumdred 

 yards found he had lied down, but had risen again in the 

 night, voluntarily, and walked not more than ten yards, 

 before he made another bed in the snow. It was evident 

 his time was drawing to its close, for in the last bed he laid 

 till we surprised him in the morning. His former plan 

 was, after we had ceased chasing him, to run a few hun- 

 dred yards, then lie down for about half of the night, 

 and rise again, and travel off fi.fteen or twenty miles into 

 the neighbourhood of his depredations, and then rest pre- 

 paratory to the next nights havoc amongst sheep; but now 

 it was pretty certain that we had tired him too much to 

 waste any time after sheep, and that he did not possess 

 power to travel much further. 



When we aroused him this time he led right off from 

 home, but we cared not whither he went so that he leR a 

 track for us to follow him; but this mountain was covered 

 with underbush, and he appeared to be well acquainted 

 with every inch of ground he ran over, therefore we could 

 not push him to the extent we desired, this he vpas well 

 aware of, and he would choose the most dense and difficult 

 part of the wood, but he omitted now, making his usual 

 circuits about the windfalls, as he had no time to spare, and 

 would continue his course direct. We followed him with 

 renewed speed for about seven miles, when he left the 

 mountain, and directed his course across a valley, six miles, 

 to another mountain: through this valley was clear open 

 wood, and we pressed him so hard, that he began to lengthen 

 his jumps, and made no more beds in the snow, until he 



