A pretty life is this of ours, out
in the campo, among the carascales, suffering heat and cold for a
peseta a day. I would I were a wolf; he fares better and is more
respected than the wretch of a shepherd."
"But he frequently fares scurvily," said I; "the shepherd and dogs
fall upon him, and then he pays for his temerity with the loss of
his head."
"That is not often the case, senor traveller," said the shepherd;
"he watches his opportunity, and seldom runs into harm's way. And
as to attacking him, it is no very pleasant task; he has both teeth
and claws, and dog or man, who has once felt them, likes not to
venture a second time within his reach. These dogs of mine will
seize a bear singly with considerable alacrity, though he is a most
powerful animal, but I have seen them run howling away from a wolf,
even though there were two or three of us at hand to encourage
them."
"A dangerous person is the wolf," said the other shepherd, "and
cunning as dangerous; who knows more than he? He knows the
vulnerable point of every animal; see, for example, how he flies at
the neck of a bullock, tearing open the veins with his grim teeth
and claws.
