HOW TO BAIT THE WOLF. 
268 
of his voracity. It is the almost infallible means of inspiring in 
him the desire to taste it. This horse, which he would have al- 
lowed to rot in the woods without even daring to approach it, he 
will come fearlessly to disinter under your windows, because he 
is well persuaded that in placing it there you were not thinking 
of him. The incentive will be still stronger, and the charm more 
complete, if you have first taken the precaution to let your dogs 
tear at the carcass. Now dispose your batteries — two or three 
large guns loaded with buck-shot — converging toward the place 
which the wolf will occupy in swallowing ; establish a communi- 
cation between the buried carcass and your wrist by means of a 
bit of twine, and fire all your guns at once, the moment you feel 
the pull: this is the surest method, and that most used in France. 
There is, however, one precaution to take. The wolf does not 
chew, like the dog ; he tears his prey and gulps it down ; he leaps 
at the bait furiously, draws to himself the morsel he has bitten, 
and gallops off with it some fifteen yards to devour it more safely, 
then returns for another. If then you were asleep at the moment 
when the pull of the twine warned you of the enemy’s presence, 
you ought to assure yourself that the beast is still there before 
pressing your three triggers, otherwise you might fire wide of 
your mark. 
The extreme voracity of the wolf, which symbolizes the greedy 
temperaments of the court of assizes, cannot however tempt him 
to infringe the laws of prudence. He will remain famished a 
whole week rather than touch the prey which he suspects. Thus 
when he has found a good occasion to satisfy his appetite, he 
makes ample amends for the time lost. I have seen two wolves 
drag out from the deep mire of a pond, the body of an enormous 
mare, which certainly weighed more than eight hundred pounds, 
then haul it up on the bank, and eat half of it in less than two or 
three hours. How can animals that weigh scarcely more than 
one hundred pounds each, absorb in a few hours more than two 
hundred pounds of food. The explanation of this mystery is 
easy ; the wolf has the faculty of ejecting by his throat all the 
food he has taken, and he makes use of this to prolong his meals 
indefinitely. What is digested, however, is not lost, and he hides 
