Page:Silversheene (1924).djvu/192

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whole day to hunting it. His method of attack was the ambush. He would go for a mile or two as though starting off across the country, then he would lie in a thicket watching his own trail. The first time this ruse nearly worked. But the wolf seemed to scent him when he came within riflerange and, leaving the fresh trail, followed parallel with it.

It was not until Richard heard the snapping of a dry twig in the thicket behind him that he discovered the ruse. He raised his rifle quickly and took a snapshot at the clever wolf, but missed. So they were playing at the same game. Richard was watching his own trail to shoot the wolf, while the wolf was paralleling the trail to take him unawares.

That evening after Richard had eaten his supper, the gray wolf came out on a bluff about five hundred yards away and lifted up his voice to heaven, howling steadily for an hour. This time Dick did not at first shoot at him, but preferred to watch him