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208
Animal Heroes
·
Ernest Thompson Seton
65
III
IN
THE
CAÑON
Away
back
in
the
spring
of
'92
a
wolver
was
"wolving"
on
the
east
side
of
the
Sentinel
Mountain
that
so
long
was
a
principal
landmark
of
the
old
Plainsmen.
Pelts
were
not
good
in
May,
but
the
bounties
were
high,
five
dollars
a
head,
and
double
for
She-wolves.
As
he
went
down
to
the
creek
one
morning
he
saw
a
Wolf
coming
to
drink
on
the
other
side.
He
had
an
easy
shot,
and
on
killing
it
found
it
was
a
nursing
She-wolf.
Evidently
her
family
were
somewhere
near,
so
he
spent
two
or
three
days
searching
in
all
the
likely
places,
but
found
no
clue
to
the
den.
Two
weeks
afterward,
as
the
wolver
rode
down
an
adjoining
cañon,
he
saw
a
Wolf
come
out
of
a
hole.
The
ever-ready
rifle
flew
up,
and
another
ten-dollar
scalp
was
added
to
his
string.
Now
he
dug
into
the
den
and
found
the
litter,
a
most
surprising
one
indeed,
for
it
consisted
not
of
the
usual
five
or
six
Wolf-pups,
but
of
eleven,
and
these,
strange
to
say,
were
of
two
sizes,
five
of
them
larger
and
older
than
the
other
six.
Here
were
two
distinct
families
with
one
mother,
and
as
he
added
their
scalps
to
his
string
of
trophies
the
truth
dawned
on
the
hunter.
One
lot
was
surely
the
family
of
the
She-wolf
he
had
killed
two
weeks
before.
The
case
was
clear:
the
little
ones
awaiting
the
mother
that
was
never
to
come,
had
whined
piteously
and
more
loudly
as
their
hunger-pangs
increased;
the
other
mother
passing
had
heard
the
Cubs;
her
heart
was
tender
now,
her
own
little
ones
had
so
recently
come,
and
she
cared
for
the
orphans,
carried
them
to
her
own
den,
and
was
providing
for
the
double
family
when
the
rifleman
had
cut
the
gentle
chapter
short.
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