This was great news; and we all
hurried forward, filled with the excitement of expectation. We were
soon upon the spot, and looking down into the pit. The hole that had
been made through the grass covering was not a very large one, and it
appeared quite dark inside; but in the midst of the darkness we could
distinguish the shining eyes of animals. There were more than one
pair--there were several--all looking up at us and glittering like coals
of fire! `What sort could they be?' asked we of one another. `Were
they wolves? Yes, they must be wolves.'

"Putting the rest to one side, I knelt down, and stretching my neck over
the hole, looked steadily in. I was not long in this position until I
counted no less than six pairs of eyes; and, to my great surprise, these
eyes were of various shapes and colours. The trap appeared to be full
of animals of all sorts!

"At this moment the thought entered my head that there might be a
panther among the rest; and as I knew that he could easily spring out, I
became somewhat alarmed, and hastily rose to my feet. I directed Mary
to get into the cart along with the children; and we then led them off
to some distance out of the way, until we should assure ourselves as to
what sort of creatures were our captives. We returned to the trap, and
cautiously removing a quantity of the grass so as to admit the light, we
again looked down. To our great delight the first animal we could
distinguish was the very one for which we had made the pit--a red doe--
and still better, among her legs we saw two beautiful spotted creatures
of a light cinnamon colour, which we at once recognised as fawns. We
then looked around the pit for the others whose eyes I had seen; and
there, crouching in the darkest corners, we saw three bodies of a
reddish-brown colour, closely squatted like so many foxes. But they
were not foxes--they were wolves, as we knew well--three wolves of the
barking or prairie species. They were not likely to bark much more,
although they howled a bit, as Cudjo reached them with his long spear,
and finished them in a trice.

"Mary was now brought back; and Cudjo, descending into the pit, secured
the doe and fawns which were soon hoisted up, and put into the cart.
The wolves were also flung out and dragged off to some distance; and the
trap was again put in order for farther captures after which we all
returned to our house, pleased with the valuable addition we had made to
our