In another minute,however,the latter found it too hot for them and bolted from the thicket.My first notice of this was seeing the cowboy,who was standing by the side of his horse,suddenly throw up his rifle and fire,while the greyhounds who had been springing high in the air,half maddened by the clamor in the thicket below,for a moment dashed off the wrong way,confused by the report of the gun.Irode for all I was worth to where the cowboy stood,and instantly caught a glimpse of two wolves,grizzled-gray and brown,which having been turned by his shot had started straight over the hill across the plain toward the mountains three miles away.As soon as I saw them Isaw also that the rearmost of the couple had been hit somewhere in the body and was lagging behind,the blood running from its flanks,while the two greyhounds were racing after it;and at the same moment the track-hounds and the big dogs burst out of the thicket,yelling savagely as they struck the bloody trail.The wolf was hard hit,and staggered as he ran.He did not have a hundred yards'start of the dogs,and in less than a minute one of the greyhounds ranged up and passed him with a savage snap that brought him too;and before he could recover the whole pack rushed at him.Weakened as he was he could make no effective fight against so many foes,and indeed had a chance for but one or two rapid snaps before he was thrown down and completely covered by the bodies of his enemies.Yet with one of these snaps he did damage,as a shrill yell told,and in a second an over-rash track-hound came out of the struggle with a deep gash across his shoulders.The worrying,growling,and snarling were terrific,but in a minute the heaving mass grew motionless and the dogs drew off,save one or two that still continued to worry the dead wolf as it lay stark and stiff with glazed eyes and rumpled fur.
No sooner were we satisfied that it was dead than the Judge,with cheers and oaths and crackings of his whip,urged the dogs after the other wolf.The two greyhounds that had been with old man Prindle had fortunately not been able to see the wolves when they first broke from the cover,and never saw the wounded wolf at all,starting off at full speed after the unwounded one the instant he topped the crest of the hill.He had taken advantage of a slight hollow and turned,and now the chase was crossing us half a mile away.With whip and spur we flew towards them,our two greyhounds stretching out in front and leaving us as if we were standing still,the track-hounds and big dogs running after them just ahead of the horses.Fortunately the wolf plunged for a moment into a little brushy hollow and again doubled back,and this gave us a chance to see the end of the chase from nearby.The two greyhounds which had first taken up the pursuit were then but a short distance behind.Nearer they crept until they were within ten yards,and then with a tremendous race the little bitch ran past him and inflicted a vicious bite in the big beast's ham.He whirled around like a top and his jaws clashed like those of a sprung bear-trap,but quick though he was she was quicker and just cleared his savage rush.
In another moment he resumed his flight at full speed,a speed which only that of the greyhounds exceeded;but almost immediately the second greyhound ranged alongside,and though he was not able to bite,because the wolf kept running with its head turned around threatening him,yet by his feints he delayed the beast's flight so that in a moment or two the remaining couple of swift hounds arrived on the scene.For a moment the wolf and all four dogs galloped along in a bunch;then one of the greyhounds,watching his chance,pinned the beast cleverly by the hock and threw him completely over.The others jumped on it in an instant;but rising by main strength the wolf shook himself free,catching one dog by the ear and tearing it half off.
Then he sat down on his haunches and the greyhounds ranged themselves around him some twenty yards off,forming a ring which forbade his retreat,though they themselves did not dare touch him.However the end was at hand.In another moment Old Abe and General Grant came running up at headlong speed and smashed into the wolf like a couple of battering-rams.He rose on his hind-legs like a wrestler as they came at him,the greyhounds also rising and bouncing up and down like rubber balls.I could just see the wolf and the first big dog locked together,as the second one made good his throat-hold.In another moment over all three tumbled,while the greyhounds and one or two of the track-hounds jumped in to take part in the killing.The big dogs more than occupied the wolf's attention and took all the punishing,while in a trice one of the greyhounds,having seized him by the hind-leg,stretched him out,and the others were biting his undefended belly.The snarling and yelling of the worry made a noise so fiendish that it was fairly bloodcurdling;then it gradually died down,and the second wolf lay limp on the plains,killed by the dogs,unassisted.
This wolf was rather heavier and decidedly taller than either of the big dogs,with more sinewy feet and longer fangs.
