ught even by a hidden
trap.

That again was a great achievement for the American wolf. Why? Because
even the elephant, clever as he is, gets caught at last by a tricky
trap, even if he avoids it for a long time. To do better than the
elephant is a triumph indeed!

So far the hunter had tried to kill the wolf for the sake of the fur;
and the wolf took no revenge for these years of persecution. He bore no
grudge against man, and did not try to pay him off. The wolf merely
wanted to live, and to be let alone. Man would not let him alone. He
wanted to kill the wolf just for the sake of money.

Then a new thing happened. Many people began to go West; farms and
ranches began to be started. These farms and ranches had many sheep and
cattle.

Then the wolf had _his_ turn! He found that sheep and cattle were far
easier to kill than the wild animals on which he had made a living so
far. So the wolf began to raid farms and ranches at night. He still
avoided man; he never let a man come near enough to shoot him; and he
never touched a hidden trap. But still he began to kill sheep and
cattle.

Man now found the tables turned on him! Formerly he had persecuted the
wolf; now the wolf persecuted, or at least tormented, _him_! So man made
one last desperate effort to beat the wolf in this battle of wits.

_The American Wolf Learns to Evade the Poison_

Man set his wits to work, and at last devised the use of _poison_. He
selected different kinds of poison, with different tastes and different
smells,--or no taste and no smell at all! He chose the nicest kinds of
meat, on which to put the poison. Then he cunningly placed pieces of the
poisoned meat all over the paths by which the wolves must come to raid
the sheep and cattle. He thought that _now_ he would beat the wolf!

Well, some of the wolves did eat the poisoned meat; they died. But a few
of the wolves saw the fate of their unwary brothers. So these surviving
wolves once more set their wits to work to discover the cause of this
new danger. It may have taken them some time to suspect that the meat
was the cause of this new danger; and a few more wolves may have died
meanwhile from eating the meat.

But some of the wolves did detect the new danger. We do not know exactly
how they did so. Perhaps this time they used one of their other gifts to
save their lives; that is, they used their power of _smell_. They
recognized man's scent in or about the meat. So they knew that man