"In 1856, I tried to ranche it in the central portion of Washington Territory. I had no neighbor nearer than thirty miles. I was a little lonesome at first, because it was really the first time I had been without partners, and I saw my neighbors but once in a whole year.
"I remember that I started to visit John Elliott. I felt that I needed company, and he and I had trapped together some years before, and were well acquainted.
"Towards evening, I started for my thirty-mile walk. It was in December, and of course, cool, with a magnificent full moon to light my trail through the deep forest and over the prairie.
"I had gone about two miles, I think, and as I neared a small lake, and was tramping along the edge of the water with my rifle carelessly swinging in my left hand, I suddenly heard a growl that startled me, and stopping at once, I saw a great wolf standing with his paw buried in the carcass of a red deer, and his mouth full of its flesh. The brute was not chewing, for his jaws were motionless, and he looked at me as if deciding which was the better meal for him, that which he had under his feet, or I. He was an immense animal. I don't think I have ever seen a larger wolf. If I had left him alone and gone about my business, he would not have troubled me. They are generally cowards, and will run at the sight of man, unless provoked or cornered, or are running in packs, when they will fight to the death.
"I, like the fool that I was, raised my rifle, took a quick aim at him, and pulled the trigger. He jumped at the instant I fired, and although I aimed at his heart, I missed it and hit him in the upper part of the fore leg. Then with his mouth wide open, showing his white teeth, and the froth running down the sides of his cheeks in his rage, he came for me with a howl, which I thought was answered by about fifty more in the timber.
"It didn't take me ten seconds to get up into the fork of an oak tree which stood only a few feet away. By the time I was safely settled in my seat, there were four more of the great grizzled beasts right under me, smacking their chops and whining as if their mouths watered for a taste of my flesh. If I could have talked to them in their own way, I would have suggested that they go and feast off of the deer which still lay intact.
"Then, as I could not make them go away by mere suggestions, I loaded my rifle and shot one of them as dead as the deer. That made more food for the others, as they will eat each other under certain circumstances, but that particular time was not one of them. I didn't blame them, for the brute I had killed was a long, gaunt, miserably thin, mangy-looking creature that seemed as if he had not had anything to eat for a month.
"The refuge I had sought from the ravenous beasts was but a sapling, and I expected it every moment to break with my weight. Presently, I heard the crotch begin to split, and letting my rifle drop, I was quick enough to catch my arms and legs around the trunk of the tree, and hold on for life until I could draw my knife and shove it into my belt ready for use.
"Having accomplished this, I watched my chance, and if there ever was such a scared wolf as the one round whose back I wound my arms when I fell, I'd like to see him!