unless he was
assisted in his meritorious work by dogs of large size and superior
strength. The huntsmen, well mounted, follow and halloo on the hounds;
every one runs, every one shouts, the forest echoes their cries, and
wolf, dogs, and sportsmen pass and disappear like leaves in a whirlwind,
or the demon hounds and huntsmen of the Hartz. And now the panting
beast, with hair on end and foaming at the mouth, bitten in every part,
is brought to bay--his hour is come--no longer able to fly, he sets his
back against some rock or tree, and faces his numerous enemies.

It is then that the oldest huntsman of the party, in order to shorten
his death-agony, and save the dogs from unnecessary wounds, dismounts,
and, drawing a pistol from his hunting-belt, finishes his career before
further mischief is done. When a ball hits a wolf and breaks one of his
bones, he immediately gives a yell; but if he is dispatched with sticks
and bludgeons, he makes no complaint. Stubborn, and apparently either
insensible or resolute, Nature seems to have given him great powers of
endurance in suffering pain. Having lost all hope of escape, he ceases
to cry and complain; he remains on the defensive, bites in silence, and
dies as he has lived. In a sheepfold the noise of his teeth while
indulging his appetite is like the repeated crack of a whip. His bite is
terrible.

The months of September and October, the period for cub-hunting, afford
capital sport. The young wolves are not like the old ones, strong enough
to take a straight course, and they consequently can rarely do more than
run a ring; when tired, which is soon the case, they retire backwards
into some hole or under a large stone, where they show their teeth and
await, with a juvenile courage worthy of a better fate, the onset of
their assailants. The mode of separating the cubs from their mother,
who, with maternal tenderness (for that feeling exists even in a wolf),
always offers to sacrifice her life for her young, is by turning loose
two or three bloodhounds. These first distract her attention, and then
pursue her so closely that at last she thinks it prudent to decamp, and
seek safety in flight; when these dogs have fairly got her away, and
their deep music dies away in the distance, others are laid on the scent
of the cubs, and the sport ceases only with the death of the litter. A
young wolf may be tamed; but it is not wise to place much confidence in
his civilization: with age he r