was so near that we could see them better. They tore down the tin
dishes, and still kept leaping up.

"Good-by, candles!" muttered Ed. "They're after that pail of bear's
grease."

Pretty soon, we heard the pail go down, _thump!_ into the box of
"salts," that was, as I have said, underneath it. Then there was a great
rush and snapping of the whole pack--twenty to thirty of them, we
thought--as they licked it up from among the salts.

They hurried hither and thither around the camp for ten or fifteen
minutes longer, then dropped off, one after another, in response to
howlings further down the stream.

The next morning, we saw where they had upset the bear-fat into the
"salts." The oil had not cooled, and of course it soaked down into the
loose salts. In their eagerness to get the warm grease, the rabid brutes
had eaten grease and salts together.

"Well," said Ed, "some of 'em will be troubled with dyspepsia after
this, that's certain."

This was Wednesday. Friday morning, Vet and I set off to go to the
settlement. We followed down Mud Stream five miles, to where it entered
the Penobscot. Here there was, or had recently been, open water, now
only partly frozen over.

We could not get upon the river at the forks, and had to follow up the
bank thirty or forty rods. We had gone only a few steps when we came
upon a dead wolf, lying close down to the water's edge, among brush and
drift-stuff.

"Here's one of our friends!" cried Vet, laughing.

We hauled the carcass up to the top of the bank. It was a good-sized
wolf, as large as a fox-hound. We felt pretty happy, for the State then
paid a bounty of eight dollars on wolf-scalps; and the hide--if we could
get it off--would bring two or three dollars more.

Well, we had not gone four rods further when we came upon another wolf,
curled up, dead, near the water. And--to cut the story short--we found
eight dead wolves lying along that strip of open water.

The "salts" had proved a fatal meal for them.

We were not long going for Ed, and then we skinned the lot. But it was a
tough job. We could not help cutting the hides considerably, and in
consequence of this, we obtained but eleven dollars for these. We got
seventy-six dollars in all, however, and this was a large amount for us
in those hard, self-denying days.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

For the Companion.
IN THE MINING REGIONS.

At the Station.

The cars stopped at a rude