THE WOLF. 131 



I tave no doubt that if Benjamin had proposed returning to 

 Goliad I would not only have ' seconded the motion,' but have 

 suggested that it was very hard-hearted in us to leave Augur sick 

 there in the first place. When he did speak it was to ask : ' Grant, 

 how many wolves do you think there are in that pack ? ' Know- 

 ing where he was from, and suspecting that he thought I would 

 over-estimate the number, I determined to show my acquaintance 

 with the animal by putting the estimate below what possibly could 

 be correct, and answered : ' Oh, about twenty ! ' very indifferently. 

 He smiled and rode on. In a minute we were close upon them, 

 and before they saw us. There were just two of them. Seated 

 upon their haunches, with their mouths close together, they had 

 made all the noise we had been hearing for the past ten minutes. 

 I have often thought of this incident since, when I have heard the 

 noise of a few disappointed politicians who had deserted their 

 associates. There are always more of them before they are counted." 



Wolves used to be very abundant in the Adirondacks some years'^ 

 ago, and are described as having been most destructive and 

 wasteful brutes, causing the farmers and settlers much annoyance 

 by destroying their sheep and pigs. They also made the hunters 

 their enemies by killing the deer in numbers utterly beyond the 

 power of their appetites to consume. In the winters, when the 

 snow was deep, a small pack of them would sometimes kill 

 hundreds of deer, taking a bite here and there, but leaving many 

 of the bodies untouched. Comparatively few wolves are now to be 

 found in this district, for " in the year 1871 the State put a 

 bounty on their scalps," says Dr. Merriam, " and it is a most 

 singular coincidence that a great and sudden decrease in their 

 numbers took place about that time. What became of them 

 is a great and, to me, inexplicable mystery, for it is known that 

 but few were killed. There is but one direction in which they 

 could have escaped, and that is through Clinton County into Lower ' 

 Canada. In so doing they would have been obliged to pass around 

 the north end of Lake Champlain and cross the Eiver Eichelieu, 

 and before reaching any extensive forests would have had to travel 

 long distances through tolerably well-settled portions of country. 

 And there is no evidence that they made any such journey." 



K 2 



