eloquent!"

"It was the middle of the winter 1832--which was, as you will recollect,
of most unusual severity--that I had gone up to Tom Draw's, with a view
merely to quail shooting, though I had taken up, as usual, my rifle,
hoping perhaps to get a chance shot at a deer. The very first night I
arrived, the old bar-room was full of farmers, talking all very eagerly
about the ravages which had been wrought among their flocks by a small
pack of wolves, five or six, as they said, in number, headed by an old
gaunt famished brute, which had for many years been known through the
whole region, by the loss of one hind foot, which had been cut off in a
steel trap.

"More than a hundred sheep had been destroyed during the winter, and
several calves beside; and what had stirred especially the bile of the
good yeomen, was that, with more than customary boldness, they had the
previous night made a descent into the precincts of the village, and
carried off a fat wether of Tom Draw's.

"A slight fall of snow had taken place the morning I arrived, and, this
suggesting to Tom's mind a possibility of hunting up the felons, a party
had gone out and tracked them to a small swamp on the Bellevale
Mountain, wherein they had undoubtedly made their head-quarters.
Arrangements had been made on all sides--forty or fifty stout and active
men were mustered, well armed, though variously, with muskets,
ducking-guns and rifles--some fifteen couple of strong hounds, of every
height and color, were collected--some twenty horses saddled and
bridled, and twice as many sleighs were ready; with provisions,
ammunition, liquor and blankets, all prepared for a week's bivouac. The
plan prescribed was in the first place to surround the swamp, as
silently as possible, with all our forces, and then to force the pack
out so as to face our volley. This, should the method be successful,
would finish the whole hunt at once; but should the three-legged savage
succeed in making his escape, we were to hunt him by relays, bivouacking
upon the ground wherever night should find us, and taking up the chase
again upon the following morning, until continual fatigue should wear
out the fierce brute. I had two horses with me, and Tim Matlock; so I
made up my mind at once, got a light one-horse sleigh up in the village,
rigged it with all my bear-skins, good store of whiskey, eatables, and
so forth, saddled the gray with my best Somerset, holsters and surcingle
attached, and