the clump of hazel was a large oak-tree, from whose limbs an extended
view of the centre of the thicket could be had. One of the hunters,
at the suggestion of Captain Williams, climbed the tree, and shot the
wolf with his rifle. The danger having passed, the wolf was dragged
from his retreat, and it was discovered that one of his forefeet had
been caught in the trap. He was an immense fellow, and nearly black
in colour.

In the early days of the frontier, the following method was sometimes
employed to rid a camp of wolves. Several fishhooks were tied
together by their shanks, with a sinew, and the whole placed in the
centre of a piece of tempting fresh meat, which was dropped where the
bait was most likely to be found by the prowling beasts. The hooks
were so completely buried in the meat as to prevent their being shaken
off by the animal that seized the bait. It is an old trapper's belief
that a wolf never takes up a piece of food without shaking it well
before he attempts to eat it, so that when the unlucky animal had
swallowed the wicked morsel, he commenced at once to howl most horribly,
tear his neck, and run incontinently from the place. As wolves rarely
travel alone, but are gregarious in their habits, the moment the brute
has swallowed the bait and commenced to run, all make after him.
His fleeing is contagious, and they seldom come back to that spot
again. Sometimes the pack will run for fifty miles before stopping.

One night, while encamped on the Platte, five of their horses were
missing when daylight came. At first they thought the Indians had
run them off; but, on second thought, Captain Williams argued that
the animals could not have been stolen. If the Indians had been able
to take the five, they could as easily have taken the whole herd.
This induced the men to go out and institute a search for the missing