Johnstown High School - Spectator Yearbook (Johnstown, PA)

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- 1-,W SPECTATOR 21 few seconds later another cry came from the left, but nearer. A minute later he heard behind him, and much closer the sharp hungry yelps of many beasts. Turning quick- ly, he beheld gaunt, dark forms running swiftly up the hill, crying savagely all the while. In school John had been known as a good runner and he now used his best efforts to get away from the beasts, but the faster he ran, the faster the wolves ran and they gained on him, foot by foot. He knew he could not keep up his present pace until he reached Houston's. cabin and he shuddered at the terrible fate that lay before him. He stumbled, but quickly regained his balance. As he looked up he saw, about a hundred yards away, a cabin. The wolves were close, so close that John fancied he could feel their hot breath on his legs. But with hope, strength likewise increased, and ina burst of speed, he sprang through the open doorway into the cabin, which proved to be abandoned. Save for a tiny ray of moon- light which came in by means of a small window in one end of the shack, the place was entirely dark. Groping around quickly, John's hand touched a ladder. Up this he stumbled-to a loft and safety! No sooner had he drawn himself up on a narrow ledge, behind a projecting board, than the fierce beasts bolted through the doorway. They growled and sniffed around in every corner, search- ing for their prey. The roof of the cabin was low and John sat crouch- ed under it, scarcely breathing. He dared not move, lest by so doing, he might disclose his hiding place. Also, so narrow was the board upon which he was sitting, that he had to stay right in one place to keep from falling through the rafters to the beasts below, who smelled their prey and were silently waiting. Ah, these wolves lived up to their well-known cun- ning, for, although they could not get him at once, he was

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20 SPECTATOR The Higher Cunning Foster Burnett, '18 oc' OW far did you say it was to Houston's place? M queried a young man of the person at his side. Wal, it's close on to two miles an' a half an' it's all up-hill, answered the farmer, as his dress and the hay- fork over his shoulder showed him to be. But there was one thing which distinguished this farmer from those of his class in the warmer country south of Ontario, and that was-a repeating rifle, which he carried in his left hand. Although he was armed, the young man at his side carried no firearms. You ain't goin' to walk that fur without no' shootin' irons', be you? queried the farmer. You'd better stay at my place over night, 'cause th' wolves git perty wild 'round here at night. No, I'll go on and get to Houston's before dark, answered the young man, and, thanking his friend for his invitation to stay, he strode on down the road in the twilight that was fast passing into night. John Williams, was the son of an Ontario farmer who had died recently, leaving his son a farm a few miles from the place where the preceding conversation occurred. John, using his last dollar on railway fare, had gotten off at a point some eighteen miles from the farm, where his brother was working. He had walked about ten miles when he saw the farmer he had thus addressed, leaving a hay-field fo'- home, and, finding himself about two and a half miles from the next cabin, resolved to reach there before night came on. The road was rough and rather hilly. It soon became dark, but the full moon came up and illumined the road so that John could see well. After walking about a mile he was startled to hear, not far away, the cry of a wolf. A

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qllnupwpnnv---uv-'-----v f- '- I 'Fl . V' 22 S P E C T AIT O R in a position from which he could see no means of - He was fast becoming numb and soon he would food of these cunning brutes. He. must do what! Suddenly an idea flashed into his mind! cautiously over the rafters he reached a spot the door, and, suddenly lowering his foot he pushed the door almost shut, getting his foot up just time to miss a savage slash aimed at it by one of wolves who had heard the movement. U It was about half a minute before the wolves that they were in a trap, and, flinging themselves the door, served to finish John's effort to secure the Quickly tearing away the rotten shingles and ing one of the boards, John had a hole large climb through upon the roof. Takingthe risk of other wolves outside, he dropped to the ground off for Houston's cottage, reaching there just as the ily was going to bed. 1 He was very stiff, but since Houston and his were eager to rid the surrounding country of those chief makers and also to gain the money offered for capture, John started back with them to the cabin trap. u There proved to be seventeen wolves in the ' and they all were very thin and gaunt, which that they had had very little to eat. Now, as there was a bounty of a pound a head, J received, as his share, almost twenty-eight dollars American money. Although he was no coward, he told his brother, he showed him the crisp bills, that ten times that ar could never again hire him to match wits with seventepl hungry wolves on a cold night 'in a lonesome cabin. P r 3 . Lift rf