In another minute, however, the latter found it too hot for them and
bolted from the thicket. My first notice of this was seeing the cowboy,
who was standing by the side of his horse, suddenly throw up his rifle
and fire, while the greyhounds who had been springing high in the air,
half maddened by the clamor in the thicket below, for a moment dashed
off the wrong way, confused by the report of the gun. I rode for all I
was worth to where the cowboy stood, and instantly caught a glimpse of
two wolves, grizzled-gray and brown, which having been turned by his
shot had started straight over the hill across the plain toward the
mountains three miles away. As soon as I saw them I saw also that
the rearmost of the couple had been hit somewhere in the body and
was lagging behind, the blood running from its flanks, while the two
greyhounds were racing after it; and at the same moment the track-hounds
and the big dogs burst out of the thicket, yelling savagely as they
struck the bloody trail. The wolf was hard hit, and staggered as he ran.
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