LIII.-CATCHING THE BLACK WOLF. re-volve', to turn round; sich drehen. in-ter-lace', to lace together; verflechten. pu'-trid, rotten; faul. ven'-i-son, the flesh of the deer; Hirschfleisch; Wildbret. cur, a worthless dog; Röter. brin'-dled, spotted; gefleckt. ten ́-don, a sinew; Sehne. ap-pre-hen ́-sive, fearful; besorgt. pack, a number of hounds hunting or kept together; Meute. trail, to hunt by the track; aufspüren. 1. We were once travelling between Henderson and Vincennes, and chanced to stop for the night at the house of a farmer, for in those days hotels were scarce in that part of the good state of Indiana. After putting up our horses and refreshing ourselves, we entered into conversation with our worthy host, and were invited by him to visit the wolf pits which he had constructed about half a mile from the house. 2. Glad of the opportunity we accompanied him across the fields to the skirts of the adjoining forests, where he had three pits within a few hundred yards of each other. They were about eight feet deep, broadest at the bottom, so as to render it impossible for the most active animal to escape from them. 3. The mouth of each pit was covered with a revolving platform of boughs and twigs, interlaced and attached to a cross piece of timber, which served for an axle. On this light sort of platform, which was balanced by a heavy stick of wood fastened to the under side, a large piece of putrid venison was tied for bait. 4. After examining all the pits, we returned to the house, our companion remarking that he was in the habit of visiting the pits daily, in order to see that all was right; that the wolves had been very bad that season; had de stroyed nearly all his sheep, and had killed one of his colts. 'But," added he, "I am now paying them off in full, and if I have any luck, you will see some fun in the morning." 5. With this expectation we retired to rest, and were up at day-light. "I think," said our host, "that all is right; for I see that the dogs are anxious to get away to the pits, and although they are nothing but curs, their noses are pretty keen for wolves." As he took up his gun and ax and a large knife, the dogs began to howl and bark, and whisked around us as if full of delight. 6. When we reached the first pit, we found the bait had been disturbed and the platform was somewhat injured, but an animal was not in the pit. On examining the second pit, we discovered three famous fellows safe enough in it, two black and one brindled, all of good size. They were lying flat on the earth, with their ears close down to their heads, their eyes indicating fear more than anger. 7. To our astonishment, the farmer proposed descending into the pit to hamstring them, in order to haul them up, and then allow them to be killed by the dogs, which, he said, would sharpen his curs for an encounter with the wolves, should any one come near his house in future. We 8. He glided down, on a knobbed pole, taking his ax and knife with him, and leaving his rifle to our care. were not a little surprised at the cowardice of the wolves. The woodman stretched out their hind legs, in succession, and with a stroke of the knife cut the tendon above the joint, exhibiting as little fear, as if he had been marking lambs. As soon as he had thus disabled the wolves, he got out, but had to return to the house for a rope, which he had not thought of. 9. He returned quickly, and made a slip-knot at one end of the rope, and threw it over the head of one of the wolves. We now hauled the terrified animal up; it was motionless with fright, half choked, and disabled in its hind legs. The farmer slipped the rope from its neck, and left it to the mercy of the dogs, which set upon it with great fury and worried it to death. 10. The second was dealt with in the same manner; but the third, which was probably the oldest, showed some spirit the moment the dogs were set upon it, and scuffled along on its forelegs at a surprising rate, snapping all the while furiously at the dogs, several of which it bit severely; and so well did the desperate animal defend itself, that the farmer, apprehensive of its killing some of his pack, ran up and knocked it on the head with his ax. 11. Once, when we were travelling on foot not far from the southern boundary of Kentucky, we fell in with a black wolf, following a man with a rifle on his shoulders. On speaking with the man about this animal, he assured us that it was as tame and as gentle as any dog, and that he had never met with a dog that could trail a deer better. We were so much struck with this account and the noble appearance of the wolf, that we offered one hundred dollars for it; but the owner would not part with it for any price. Audubon and Bachman. LIV. DEAD CALM IN THE TROPICS. trop'-ic, the circle 231° north and south of the equator; Wendekreis. (trop'-ics, the region between the two tropical circles.) mo'-tion, movement; Bewegung. The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free; We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea. Down dropped the breeze, the sails dropped down, 'Twas sad as sad could be; And we did speak only to break The silence of the sea! All in a hot and copper sky, Right up above the mast did stand, Day after day, day after day, We stuck, nor breath nor motion; Upon a painted ocean. Water, water, everywhere, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink. Sam. Taylor Coleridge. LV.-VOLCANOES. e-rup'-tion, act of bursting forth; Ausbruch. trunc'-ate, to cut off; abstumpfen. jet, a spout; Strahl. cal'-dron, a large kettle; Kessel. cin'-der, a piece of matter thoroughly burnt; Schlacke. cause'-way, a raised way; Fahrdamm. 1. You have, no doubt, read of Volcanoes or burning mountains. Let us suppose that you were to visit one of these volcanoes just before an eruption. As you approach it, you see a conical mountain, seemingly with its top cut off. From this truncated summit a white cloud rises. But it is not quite such a cloud as you would see on a hill-top in this country. For as you watch it, you notice that it rises out of the top of the mountain, even though there are no clouds to be seen anywhere else. 2. Ascending from the vegetation of the lower grounds, you find the slopes to consist partly of loose stones and ashes, partly of rough black sheets of rock, like the slags of an iron furnace. As you get nearer the top the ground feels hot, and puffs of steam, together with stifling vapors, come out of it here and there. 3. At last you reach the summit, and there what seemed a level top is seen to be in reality a great basin, with steep walls descending into the depths of the mountain. Screening your face as well as possible from the hot gases which almost choke you, you creep to the top of this basin, and look down into it. 4. Far below, at the base of the rough red and yellow cliffs which form its sides, lies a pool of some liquid, glowing with a white heat, though covered for the most part with a black crust like that seen on the outside of the mountain during the ascent. 5. From this fiery pool jets of the red-hot liquid are jerked out every now and then, stones and dust are cast up into the air, and fall back again, and clouds of steam ascend from the same source and form the uprising cloud which is seen from a great distance hanging over the mountain. 6. This caldron-shaped hollow on the summit of the mountain is the Crater. The intensely heated liquid in the sputtering boiling pool at its bottom is melted rock or Lava. And the fragmentary materials-ashes, dust, cinders, and stones thrown out, are torn from the hardened sides and bottom of the crater by the violence of the explosions with which the gases and steam escape. 7. The hot air and steam, and the melted mass at the bottom of the crater, show that there must be some source of intense heat underneath. And as the heat has been coming out for hundreds of years, it must exist there in great abundance. 8. But it is when the volcano appears in active eruption |