the cause of which will be seen. His nightly couch was outside the
stable, even during the coldest weather, and it was easy to see he
enjoyed to the full the complete nocturnal liberty entailed. Bingo's
midnight wanderings extended across the plains for miles. There
was plenty of proof of this. Some farmers at very remote points
sent word to old Gordon that if he did not keep his dog home
nights, they would use the shot-gun, and Bingo's terror of firearms
would indicate that the threats were not idle. A man living as far
away as Petrel said he saw a large black wolf kill a coyote on the
snow one winter evening, but afterward he changed his opinion
and 'reckoned it must 'a' been Wright's dog.' Whenever the body of
a winter-killed ox or horse was exposed, Bingo was sure to repair
to it nightly, and driving away the prairie wolves, feast to
repletion.

Sometimes the object of a night foray was merely to maul some
distant neighbor's dog, and notwithstanding vengeful threats, there
seemed no reason to fear that the Bingo breed would die out. One
man even avowed that he had seen a prairie wolf accompanied by
three young ones which resembled the mother, excepting that they
were very large and black and had a ring of white around the
muzzle.

True or not as that may be, I know that late in March, while we
were out in the sleigh with Bingo trotting behind, a prairie wolf
was started from a hollow. Away it went with Bingo in full chase,
but the wolf did not greatly exert itself to escape, and within a
short distance Bingo was close up, yet strange to tell, there was no
grappling, no fight!