“At this point a murmurous roaring began to make itself heard on the still air; and before I could ask any more questions about the wolves, Maxim exclaimed,—
“‘We can’t go through the “Narrows” to-night. Not light enough with this head of water. Better camp right here.’
“‘Agreed!’ said I; and we slid gently up along side of a projecting log. Presently we had the tent pitched on a bit of dry, soft sward that sloped ever so little toward the waterside. Behind the tent was a thicket of spruce that sheltered us from the night wind; and in front laughed softly the river, as it hurried along its shining trail beneath the full moon, to bury itself in the chasms of the dark hill-range which separated it from its sovereign, the wide St. John.
“After supper, when the camp-fire was blazing cheerfully, Maxim told me about the wolves.
“‘Well,’ said he in a reminiscent tone, ‘it was in those hills yonder, very near the Narrows, I struck the wolves. I knew there were a good many of them ’round that winter, as I’d come across lots of their tracks. There was a bounty then of fifteen dollars on a wolf’s snout,—that was twenty years ago,—and I was keeping my eyes pretty well peeled. My lookout was all in vain, however, till along one afternoon I caught sight of one of the skulking vermin dodging behind some bushes, not far from here, but on the other side of the river. It was only a snap shot I got at the beast, but I wounded it; and you’d better believe I lost no time following up the trail. By the way he bled, I could see that he was hard hit.
“‘He led me away up, nigh the top of the mountain, then took a sharp turn to the river; and pretty soon I came out onto a little level place, a sort of high platform, in front of a big, bare slope of rock. In the foot of that rock there was a hole, just about big enough for a man to crawl into on his hands and knees, and into that hole led the trail of my wolf.
“‘“Got him, fast enough!” said I to myself; “but how to get at him—there’s the rub!” As I stood there considering, another wolf slid by me, like a long, gray shadow, and sneaked into the den. Without putting the gun to my shoulder, I gave him a shot, which fetched him in the hindquarters just as he disappeared. “That’s good for thirty dollars,” said I to myself, loading up again, and hoping some more would come along.
“‘They didn’t come; so pretty soon I gave them up, and went and examined the hole. I could see that it narrowed down rapidly, and I hardly knew what to do. I wanted that thirty dollars; but I didn’t want to crawl into that little dark hole after it, with maybe a couple of yet lively wolves waiting at the other end to receive me.’
“‘Why didn’t you leave them there and go back for them next day? By that time, if they were really hard-hit, you’d have found them dead enough!’ was my comment.
“‘There wouldn’t have been much of them left for me by the morrow,’ said Maxim. ‘I knew well enough the other wolves would scent the blood and come along, and help themselves to snouts and all in the night. So by and by I made up my mind to crawl in and risk it. Standing my gun up against the rock, and taking my knife in my right hand, I started in!’