posed the jackal to be the original parent of the dog. On our far Western plains, and about the Rocky Mountains, abounds the prairie-wolf, or coyote, about the size of the jackal. He is timid and harmless to man, though he loves to prowl about the settlement and camp, and act the part of a sly thief. The wolf has a more continuous howl,

but the coyote is known by a snap

ping bark; and the noise of a single individual sounds to the stranger like the barking of a numerous pack.

3. "In those plains of Siberia that are infested by wolves, a sledge

journey is far from agreeable, for frequently a band of these ferocious brutes persistently follow travelers. If the sledge stops for only a second, the men and horses are lost; safety exists only in flight. The struggle on such occasions is fearful. The horses, mad with terror, seem to have wings. The wolves follow on their track, their eyes flashing with fire. It is a terrible situation to be placed in, to behold these black specters tearing across the surface of the white shroud of snow, thirsting for blood. From time to time a report is heard-a wolf falls.

4. "More audacious than the others, the victim had tried to climb the sledge, and one of the travelers had shot it. This incident gives some advantage to the fugitives; for the carnivorous troop halt for a few seconds to devour the body of their companion. But the end is nigh; the village or castle appears against the gray sky, and the

wolves are deprived of their anticipated prey. At other times the adventure terminates in a tragical manner. After the pursuit of some hours, the team, exhausted and incapable of proceeding farther, is overtaken; the sledge is surrounded and carried by assault; the rest may be imagined!"

5. "In 1739, Israel Putnam, who afterward became so well known as General Putnam, of the Revolutionary War, began life as a farmer in the town of Pomfret, Connecticut, forty miles east of Hartford. That part of the State was then quite wild, and the wolves were so troublesome that they killed seventy of his sheep in one night. The mischief was all done by one old she-wolf and her cubs, who had lived in the woods near there for several years. The hunters killed the cubs, but the old one was too wary to be caught. She was at last driven by bloodhounds into a den about three miles from Putnam's house.

6. "The hunters tried to smoke her out by burning straw and brimstone in the mouth of the cave, but the wolf would not come out, and Putnam, tired of waiting any longer, for it was then ten o'clock at night, took a blazing torch in his hand and went down the hole, which was only high enough for him to crawl on his hands and knees. He had a rope tied round his legs, and told his friends to pull him up when he gave the signal.

7. "He crawled along more than thirty feet without seeing anything; but all at once he saw at the end of the cave the glaring eyeballs of the wolf. She gnashed her teeth and gave a sudden growl, and his friends, who heard it, pulled him out so quickly that his shirt was torn to strips and his skin badly cut.

8. "He then loaded his gun with buck-shot, and, taking it in one hand and a torch in the other, went down again. As soon as he came near the wolf she growled and

made ready to spring on him, but he shot her quickly in the head, and was hauled out again, nearly deaf with the noise, and choked with the smoke. After the smoke had cleared away, he crawled down a third time, took the dead wolf by the ears, and the two were pulled out by the people above with much joy.

9. "When the wolves get into the habit of visiting a particular neighborhood, they continue the practice for several nights almost consecutively, and the farmers there become very vigilant, getting all animals safely housed before dark. The wolf comes into the farm-yard, and the creatures in the buildings know that he is there, and pass wakeful and anxious hours. One night in winter, when there were wolves about the farm I live on, I went, about midnight, to the stable, and, just on coming out, I met a fine wolf face to face. We were not more than six or eight feet from each other, and both rather taken by surprise. I had no weapon, but remembered the tradition that you must never turn your back upon a wolf, so I stood still and asked him what he wanted.

10. "The sound of a human voice seems to have affected the wolf's mind, for he turned round and slinked away into the dark shades of a neighboring wood. The morning after, I learned that he had killed a goat on the next farm. I exactly remember what passed in my mind during our brief meeting: 'That's a large dog; no, it is not a dog, it is something else; what else?-wolf--no weapon -must keep my face to him.' Then, aloud, 'Well, sir, what do you want here?' On which he looked steadfastly at me for a second or two without stirring, then made a rapid right-about-face, and cantered woodward in perfect silence."

COYOTE.

1. Blown out of the prairie in twilight and dew,
Half bold and half timid, yet lazy all through;
Loath even to leave, and yet fearful to stay,
He limps in the clearing, an outcast in gray.

2. A shade on the stubble, a ghost on the wall,
Now leaping, now limping, now risking a fall,
Lop-eared, and large-jointed, but ever alway
A thoroughly vagabond outcast in gray.

3. Here, Carlo, old fellow-he's one of your kind—
Go, seek him, and bring him in out of the wind.
What! snarling, my Carlo? So-even dogs may
Deny their own kin in the outcast in gray.

4. Well, take what you will-though it be on the sly,
Marauding or begging-I shall not ask why;
But will call it a dole, just to help on his way
A four-footed friar in orders of gray!

Bret Harte.

CHAPTER IX.

SLY-BOOTS.

1. THE shower is passing, the woods are shaking the warm rain-drops from their summits, and from the heath a refreshing and spicy fragrance rises through the evening air. In every retreat feet and wings are on the move. The gnats begin their dance, the ants creep forth to repair their flooded highway, the chaffinch is warbling from the top of the beech-tree, the hare is at her play, and the Fox begins to feel his nature stir within him.