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208
Animal Heroes
·
Ernest Thompson Seton
64
II
ANCIENT
DAYS
In
pristine
days
the
Buffalo
herds
were
followed
by
bands
of
Wolves
that
preyed
on
the
sick,
the
weak,
and
the
wounded.
When
the
Buffalo
were
exterminated
the
Wolves
were
hard
put
for
support,
but
the
Cattle
came
and
solved
the
question
for
them
by
taking
the
Buffaloes'
place.
This
caused
the
wolf-war.
The
ranchmen
offered
a
bounty
for
each
Wolf
killed,
and
every
cowboy
out
of
work,
was
supplied
with
traps
and
poison
for
wolf-killing.
The
very
expert
made
this
their
sole
business
and
became
known
as
wolvers.
King
Ryder
was
one
of
these.
He
was
a
quiet,
gentlespoken
fellow,
with
a
keen
eye
and
an
insight
into
animal
life
that
gave
him
especial
power
over
Broncos
and
Dogs,
as
well
as
Wolves
and
Bears,
though
in
the
last
two
cases
it
was
power
merely
to
surmise
where
they
were
and
how
best
to
get
at
them.
He
had
been
a
wolver
for
years,
and
greatly
surprised
me
by
saying
that
"never
in
all
his
experience
had
he
known
a
Gray-wolf
to
attack
a
human
being."
We
had
many
camp-fire
talks
while
the
other
men
were
sleeping,
and
then
it
was
I
learned
the
little
that
he
knew
about
Badlands
Billy.
"Six
times
have
I
seen
him
and
the
seventh
will
be
Sunday,
you
bet.
He
takes
his
long
rest
then."
And
thus
on
the
very
ground
where
it
all
fell
out,
to
the
noise
of
the
night
wind
and
the
yapping
of
the
Coyote,
interrupted
sometimes
by
the
deep-drawn
howl
of
the
hero
himself,
I
heard
chapters
of
this
history
which,
with
others
gleaned
in
many
fields,
gave
me
the
story
of
the
Big
Dark
Wolf
of
Sentinel
Butte.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
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Unmarker
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Scalpel
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