Wild Animals I Have Known
By Ernest Thompson Seton.
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This Book
is Dedicated
To
Beulah
Note to the Reader
These stories are true. Although I have left the strict line of historical truth in many places, the animals in this book were all real characters. They lived the lives I have depicted, and showed the stamp of heroism and personality more strongly by far than it has been in the power of my pen to tell.
I believe that natural history has lost much by the vague general treatment that is so common. What satisfaction would be derived from a ten-page sketch of the habits and customs of Man? How much more profitable it would be to devote that space to the life of some one great man. This is the principle I have endeavored to apply to my animals. The real personality of the individual, and his view of life are my theme, rather than the ways of the race in general, as viewed by a casual and hostile human eye.
This may sound inconsistent in view of my having pieced together some of the characters, but that was made necessary by the fragmentary nature of the records. There is, however, almost no deviation from the truth in Lobo, Bingo, and the Mustang.
Lobo lived his wild romantic life from 1889 to 1894 in the Currumpaw region, as the ranchmen know too well, and died, precisely as related, on January 31, 1894.
Bingo was my dog from 1882 to 1888, in spite of interruptions, caused by lengthy visits to New York, as my Manitoban friends will remember. And my old friend, the owner of Tan, will learn from these pages how his dog really died.
The Mustang lived not far from Lobo in the early nineties. The story is given strictly as it occurred, excepting that there is a dispute as to the manner of his death. According to some testimony he broke his neck in the corral that he was first taken to. Old Turkeytrack is where he cannot be consulted to settle it.
Wully is, in a sense, a compound of two dogs; both were mongrels, of some collie blood, and were raised as sheepdogs. The first part of Wully is given as it happened, after that it was known only that he became a savage, treacherous sheep-killer. The details of the second part belong really to another, a similar yaller dog, who long lived the double-life—a faithful sheepdog by day, and a bloodthirsty, treacherous monster by night. Such things are less rare than is supposed, and since writing these stories I have heard of another double-lived sheepdog that added to its night amusements the crowning barbarity of murdering the smaller dogs of the neighborhood. He had killed twenty, and hidden them in a sandpit, when discovered by his master. He died just as Wully did.
About 1904, while at Salt Lake City, I met an old cattleman who gave me new light on the Pacing Mustang. He told me that he was one of the boys who tried to run the Pacer down. Also, that he was present at the final scene. This cattleman claimed that Old Turkeytrack did get the Pacer into the corral, but found him so ferociously unmanageable that the horseman shouted out: “Throw open that gate.” This done, the Pacer, with his rider, raced across the prairie. The man thought to wear the Pacer down, but suddenly, the horse dashed to the canyon, and leaped over the edge, taking his rider with him. Both were smashed together.
All told, I now have information of six of these Jekyll-Hyde dogs. In each case it happened to be a collie.
Many dogs have I known since the above was penned, and much that looks like treachery have I seen. Is it treachery? In the light of my larger experience, I should say not. The dog has always been the model and symbol of fidelity; and I have never known a dog that was false to the master that brought him up. In other words, the dog that played false, had changed masters; he did not know to whom his loyalty was due.
Redruff really lived in the Don Valley north of Toronto, and many of my companions will remember him. He was killed in 1889, between the Sugar Loaf and Castle Frank, by a creature whose name I have withheld, as it is the species, rather than the individual, that I wish to expose.
Silverspot, Raggylug, and Vixen are founded on real characters. Though I have ascribed
