242 
RED TEXAN WOLF. 
windward of us, started some 30 or 40 yards off our path to wake up the 
dreamers of our party. No one is certain that his queries will be wel- 
come to the backwoodsman on a march through a strange country, any 
more than would be those of a passenger, put to the captain of a vessel as he 
leans over the weather-rail looking what the wind will be, or thinking of 
the disagreeable bustle he will have, when he gets into port, compared 
to his lazy luxury on shipboard : but as I rode by the side of Powell we 
started no deer, nor came to a ‘ water hole,’ but a Red Wolf jumped up 
some two or three hundred yards from us, and took to the lazy gallop so 
common to this species ; ‘ Run you ,’ cried Powell, and he sent a 
yell after him that would have done credit to red or white man for its 
shrill and startling effect, the Wolf’s tail dropped lower than usual, and 
now it would have taken a racer to have overtaken him in a mile ; a 
laugh from Powell, and another yell, which as the sound reached the Wolf 
made him jump again, and Powell turned to me with a chuckle, and 
said, ‘ I had the nicest trick played me by one of those rascals you ever 
heard of.’ The simple, how was it, or let’s have it, was all that he wanted, 
and he began at the beginning. ‘ I was out on a survey about 15 miles 
west of Austin, in a range that we didn’t care about shooting in any more 
than we could help, for the Camanches were all over the country ; and 
having killed a deer in the morning, I took the ribs off one side and wrap- 
ping them in a piece of the skin, tied it to my saddle and carried it all day, 
so as to have a supper at night without hunting for it ; it was a dark, dismal 
day, and I was cold and hungry when I got to where I was to camp to wait 
for the rest of the party to come up next day ; I made my fire, untied my 
precious parcel, for it was now dark, with two sticks put up my ribs 
to roast, and walked off to rub down and secure my horse, while they 
were cooking ; but in the midst of my arrangements I heard a stick crack, 
and as that in an Indian country means something, 1 turned and saw, to 
my amazement, for I thought no animal would go near the fire, a large 
Red Wolf actually stealing ‘ my ribs’ as they roasted ; instinct made me 
draw a pistol and ‘ let drive’ at him ; the smoke came in my face and I saw 
nothing but that my whole supper was gone. So not in the most 
philosophical manner 1 lay down, supperless, on my blanket ; at daylight 
I was up to look out for breakfast, and to my surprise, my half-cooked ribs 
lay within twenty feet of the fire, and the Wolf about twenty yards off, 
dead ; my ball having been as well aimed as if in broad daylight.” 
We have represented a fine specimen of this Wolf, on a sand-bar, snuff- 
ing at the bone of a buffalo, which, alas ! is the only fragment of “ ani- 
mal matter” he has in prospect for breakfast. 
