sun had gone from the sky, and a blood-streak marked the spot
where he died, away over Sentinel Butte. The hills were dim, the
valleys dark, when from the nearest gloom there rolled a
long-drawn cry that all men recognize instinctively--melodious,
yet with a tone in it that sends a shudder up the spine, though
now it has lost all menace for mankind. We listened for a moment.
It was the Wolf-hunter who broke silence: "That's Badlands Billy;
ain't it a voice? He's out for his beef to-night."


II

ANCIENT DAYS

In pristine days the Buffalo herds were followed by bands of
Wolves that preyed on the sick, the weak, and the wounded. When
the Buffalo were exterminated the Wolves were hard put for
support, but the Cattle came and solved the question for them by
taking the Buffaloes' place. This caused the wolf-war. The
ranchmen offered a bounty for each Wolf killed, and every cowboy
out of work, was supplied with traps and poison for wolf-killing.
The very expert made this their sole business and became known as
wolvers. King Ryder was one of these. He was a quiet,
gentlespoken fellow, with a keen eye and an insight into animal
life that gave him especial power over Broncos and Dogs, as well
as Wolves and Bears, though in the last two cases it was power
merely to surmise where they were and how best to get at them. He
had been a wolver for years, and greatly surprised me by saying
that "never in all his experience had he known a Gray-wolf to
attack a human being."