ning table, he had questioned them and they had told him a
graphic story of how they had been chased by a great pack of wolves and
how they had managed to escape with their lives by climbing a tree only
just in the nick of time; and, moreover, how the ferocious brutes had
kept them there all night long, and how, consequently, they had been
nearly frozen to death.
It was a thrilling story and so full of detail that even "old-timer" Le
Heup grew quite interested and congratulated himself on having at last
actually heard, first hand, a true story of how Canadian timber-wolves,
though unprovoked, had pursued, attacked, and treed two men. Indeed,
he was so impressed that he decided to back-track the heroes' trail and
count for himself just how many wolves the pack had numbered. So he
got the would-be lumber-jacks--for they were greenhorns from the
city--to point out for him their incoming trail, which he at once set
out to back-track. After a tramp of three or four miles he came to the
very tree which from all signs they had climbed and in which they had
spent the night. Then desiring to count the wolf tracks in the snow,
he looked around, but never a one could he see. Walking away for about
a hundred yards he began to circle the tree, but still without success.
He circled again with about an eighth of a mile radius, but still no
wolf tracks were to be seen. As a last resort he circled once more
about a quarter of a mile from the tree, and this time he was rewarded;
he found wolf tracks in the snow. There had been three wolves. They
had been running full gallop. Moreover, they had been trailing a
white-tailed deer; but never once had either deer or wolves paused in
their run, nor had they come within a quarter of a mile of the tree in
which the greenhorns from the city had spent the night. Of such
material are the man-chasing, man-killing wolf stories made.
Frequently I have had timber-wolves follow me, sometimes for half an
hour or so; on one occasion two of the largest and handsomest
timber-wolves I ever saw followed me for over two hours. During that
time they travelled all round me, ahead, behind, and on either side;
and occasionally they came within sixty or seventy feet of me. Yet
never once, by action or expression, did they show any signs other than
those which two friendly but very shy dogs might have shown toward me.
THE WOLF THAT KILLED A MAN
Of course, wolves will attack a man; when they are
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