Show C ad A adventurers CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF 1 the beast at the door H HELLO ELLO EVERYBODY heres oskar Ba of yonkers N Y come to join the adventurers club and to furnish us with still another illustration of how truth can be stranger than fiction if you were reading a story in a magazine and came cam on a passage that described how wolves killed a calf on a pennsylvania farm not more than sixty miles west of philadelphia and in the year 1926 well what would you think of that story it if you are like me probably say the author was crazy and tu turn rn to another story that sounded more true to life A fiction writer just put an incident of that sort down on paper and get away with it but old man fact go by the rules that govern fiction writers its actually true that wolves have killed calves in eastern pennsylvania and that the half of it either as oskar Ba is here to tell yoa you in the fall of 1926 oskar was taking a motor trip from boston to louisville ky and stopped overnight at his uncles farmhouse on the lincoln high highway yay 10 miles northeast ol of coatesville Coates ville pa it was oskars first visit to the farm in several years and his aunt who came to the door was surprised to see him and when presently his uncle came in from feeding the chickens he seemed to be not only surprised but worried about something as well worried about wolves they all sat down to supper and during the he course of the meal oskar found out what was worrying his uncle tie told oskar that the night before a young calf had been killed by wolves that came from the surrounding woods it the first time that i ile he fired as one of the wolves sprang at the horses sort of thing had happened either he said time and again he fie had set traps for the beasts but never had biad he been able to catch any of them now he was at his wits end for one by one the animals were killing off all his most valuable live stock after supper they went into the parlor oskars uncle continued talking about the wolves he had just about decided to sit up in the barn all night and see if he get some of them with a rifle we were all sitting around the stove oskar says for it had been cold all day and after dark the wind started to blow ominously we could hear it whistling aboul the house and the warmth of the fire was comforting about nine there was a knock at the door oskars uncle got up to see who it was and oskar could hear him say hello to someone and invite him to come in the visitor was one of the local dutch american farmers and he said 1 I aint got much time just thought id drop in and find out if you were going into town tomorrow why yes oskars uncle answered im going over first thing in the morning are the missus and the kids with you outside in the wagon the farmer replied and scarcely were the words out of his mouth when they heard a womans comans scream accompanied by the terrified whining of the horses farmer feared for his children in an instant the little farmhouse parlor was a bedlam oskars aunt started up from her chair the visitor rooted to his own chair cried good lord that oskars uncle was on his feet running across the room wolves he shouted over his shoulder as he reached behind a bureau tor for his rifle wolves in the light of the small elect electric rid bulb oskar could see the color leave the farmers face outside the wind howled the horses were still screaming and the cattle and the chickens joined in the terrible ier din wolves the farmer repeated oh ob my god my kids are out there he was out of his chair and across the floor like a shot ile he jerked open the door he and my uncle says oskar went through the doorway at the same time but my uncle carried a rifle and the farmer was unarmed over the din of the animals and the howling of the wind I 1 could hear bear their footsteps crossing the porch clumping down the four wooden steps then I 1 got up and followed the horses were still screaming dreadfully but after that first worn wom ans shriek no sound had come from the occupants of the wagon A light dark form sprang at one of the horses and the horse reared oskars uncle knelt down on the ground raised his rifle and fired wolves scared away by shots the sky was almost pitch black and the road was so far away from the house that it was impossible tor for the men to tell if the shot had been effective oskars uncle fired again then all three of i them ran toward the wagon As they ran they could see black forms scurrying away a cross across the fields T the he shots had frightened the wolves away when they arrived at the wagon they found tile the farmers wife s slumped unconscious in the seat the children in tl the leback back of the wagon were awake and crying the horse his skin torn and bleeding and his neck bitten in several places was wa rearing and kicking and trying to break away it took oskars uncle a long time to quiet the frantic animal meanwhile the farmer carried his wife into the house an and gave her a harrowing few drops of whisky ahrn she came to she told a harrowing story of seeing three enormous colvis wolves appear suddenly out of the darkness and jump at the horses neck and nd flanks at the sight of them she had screamed and fainted my uncle loaned his friend another horse and a rifle to get home with says oskar and after the children were calmed and the mother felt better they started off again they got home safely and several weeks later my uncle wrote me that hed shot one of the marauders a little fellow weighing pounds and all I 1 want to know Is why do guys like frank buck travel all the way to africa copyright service |