Wolves! They were as fatal to his enterprise as savages.

A trooping pack of prairie wolves had fallen in with the herd and hung close on the trail, trying to cut a calf away from its mother.

The gray brutes boldly trotted to within a few yards of him, and slyly looked at him, with pale, fiery eyes.

They had already scented his captive.

Precious time flew by; the situation, critical and baffling, had never before been met by him.
There lay his little calf tied fast, and to the north ran many others, some of which he must--he would have.