32 AUDUBON 



was so fidgety that I ran down twice to tell the hunters 

 that the Wolf was making off. Mr. Culbertson, however, 

 told me he would see it did not make off; and in a few 

 moments he rode out of the fort, gun in hand, dressed 

 only in shirt and breeches. He threw his cap off within 

 a few yards, and suddenly went off with the swiftness of 

 a jockey bent on winning a race. The Wolf trotted on, 

 and ever and anon stopped to gaze at the rider and the 

 horse; till, finding out the meaning (too late, alas! for 

 him), he galloped off with all his might; but the horse 

 was too swift for the poor cur, as we saw the rider gain- 

 ing ground rapidly. Mr. Culbertson fired his gun off as 

 a signal, I was told, that the Wolf would be brought in ; 

 and the horse, one would think, must have been of the 

 same opinion, for although the Wolf had now reached the 

 hills, and turned into a small ravine, the moment it had 

 entered it, the horse dashed after, the sound of the gun 

 came on the ear, the Wolf was picked up by Mr. Culbert- 

 son without dismounting, hardly slackening his pace, 

 and thrown across the saddle. The rider returned as 

 swiftly as he had gone, wet through with a smart shower 

 that had fallen meantime ; and the poor Wolf was placed 

 at my disposal. The time taken from the start to the re- 

 turn in the yard did not exceed twenty minutes, possibly 

 something less. Two other men who had started at the 

 same time rode very swiftly also, and skirted the hills to 

 prevent the Wolf's escape; and one of them brought in 

 Mr. C. 's gun, which he had thrown on the ground as he 

 picked up the Wolf to place it on the saddle. The beast 

 was not quite dead when it arrived, and its jaws told of 

 its dying agonies; it scratched one of Mr. C. 's fingers 

 sorely ; but we are assured that such things so often occur 

 that nothing is thought of it. 



And now a kind of sham Buffalo hunt was proposed, 

 accompanied by a bet of a suit of clothes, to be given to 

 the rider who would load and fire the greatest number of 



