"
"Here are the tracks again," said Putnam.
They could be seen very plainly, for here the ground was quite muddy.
The four men followed them for some distance, and then lost them on
the hillside.
"Let us call the neighbors together and have a grand wolf hunt to-
morrow," said Putnam. "We must put an end to this killing of lambs."
All the other men agreed to this, and they parted.
II
The next day twenty men and boys came together for the grand wolf hunt.
They tracked the beast to the mouth of a cave, far up on the hills.
They shouted and threw stones into the cave. But the wolf was too wise
to show herself. She lay hidden among some rocks, and nothing could
make her stir.
"I will fetch her out," said Israel Putnam.
The opening to the cave was only a narrow hole between two rocks.
Putnam stooped down and looked in. It was very dark there, and he could
not see anything.
Then he tied a rope around his waist and said to his friends, "Take
hold of the other end, boys. When I jerk it, then pull me out as
quickly as you can." He got down on his hands and knees and crawled
into the cave. He crawled very slowly and carefully.
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