AMERICAN GREY WOLF. 
285 
upon his horse, a silent and admiring spectator of the strange scene. At 
length, when he thought his dogs had somewhat recovered their breath, he 
called on them to return to the charge. Old Cleon, a black dog of great 
strength and courage, was the only one who obeyed the summons— he 
sprang fiercely at the wolf’s throat : the latter, however, who had risen to 
Ins feet, by a well timed snap, seized Cleon by the neck and hind head, 
and retaining his hold, was grinding away on the poor fellow’s skull with 
his immense jaws. This was too much for any hunter to witness— a 
favourite dog held helpless, in a grip that threatened very speedily 
to end his days. Hoskins was an experienced hunter, and a very cool 
and determined man poor fellow, he afterwards fell, fighting most gal- 
lantly, at the battle of Monterey, Mexico : on this occasion he sprang 
from his horse and seized the wolf by the hind leg, and by a violent jerk 
caused him to release the dog, but only to find, in less than an instant, the 
jaws of the monster clamped upon his own leg. lie told me, the follow- 
ing day, that ho plainly felt the jar as the wolf’s large canine teeth clashed 
against each other in the calf of his leg, so powerful was the snap of his 
jaws. 
“ The wolf, however, made no effort to shake or lacerate the wound ; 
at the same time it occurred to the hunter that this would be the only 
effect of any exertion on his own part to extricate his limb ; and there- 
fore, with the wolf’s hind leg in his right hand, and his left leg in the 
wolf’s jaws, he stood perfectly quiet, while poor Cleon, whose head was 
covered with blood, lay before him, apparently more dead than alive. 
“ In a moment, however, Cleon recovered and raised his head ; and then 
his master spoke to him again. Promptly the old fellow obeyed the call, 
and this time he made good his hold upon the wolf’s throat ; whereupon 
our hunter s leg was at once released. The other dogs now, having pretty 
well recovered their breath, also re-attacked the wolf ; and this round so 
disabled him that the affair might be considered as decided. The dogs, 
however, had all been severely handled, and were again so completely 
blown that they were unable to make an end of the combat by killing 
him outright. At this juncture a Cherokee boy, who was on his way 
across the plain, came up ; but neither had he a knife nor any other 
weapon. Hoskins then, as his only resource, unbuckled the reins of his 
bridle (his horse, well used to such scenes, was quietly feeding, close by), 
and making of these a slip-noose, he, with the assistance of the boy, got 
this over the wolf’s head, when pulling on the opposite ends, they suc- 
ceeded in strangling the already exhausted animal. After resting with 
his dogs a little while, Hoskins was enabled to mount his horse and 
return home, with all of them except poor Cleon, who was so much 
