t she put one foot on his short skirt, holding
him in place. Some intuition told him what was taking place, perhaps,
what might take place. Clasping both chubby hands around Jessie's foot
to steady himself, he sat in silence, making no complaint. The brave
spirit within his baby body had risen to meet the crisis as gallantly
as could that of any Gordon over whose head a score of years had
passed.

Reaching the end of the wagon, I crouched down beside Guard, with
rifle poised and finger on the trigger, waiting for the pursuing
outcry to resolve itself into tangible shape. I had not long to wait.
Dusky shadows came stealing out from either side of the roadway.
Shadows that, as I strained my eyes upon them, seemed to grow and
multiply, until, in less time than it takes to tell it, we were close
beset by a pack of wolves in full cry. The terrified horses were
bounding along and the wagon was bouncing after them, at a rate that
threatened momentarily to either shatter the wagon or set the horses
free from it, but Jessie still kept them in the road. A moment more
and the wolves were upon us, and had ceased howling; their quarry was
at hand. I could see their eyes flaming in the darkness, and with the
rifle muzzle directed toward a couple of those flaming points, I
fired. There was a terrific clamor again as the report of the gun died
away, and a score or more of our pursuers halted, sniffing at a fallen
comrade. But one gaunt long-limbed creature disdained to stop for such
a matter. He kept after the wagon. Guard was young and, moreover, this
was his first experience with wolves. He had stopped growling, but
his eyes seemed to dart fire, and as the wolf that had outstripped its
mates sprang up, with gnashing teeth, hurling himself at the tailboard
in a determined effort to spring into the wagon, Guard attempted to
spring out and grapple with him. I was leaning against the dog, ready
to meet the wolf's closer approach with a bullet, and, in consequence,
I felt the impetus of his leap before he could accomplish it. The gun
dropped from my hand with a crash as I threw both arms around Guard,
intent on holding him in the wagon. I was so far successful that his
leap was checked; he fell across the tailboard, his head and forelegs
outside. My grip about his body tightened as I felt him slipping. I
pulled back mightily, and had the satisfaction of tumbling backward
with him into the wagon-box, but not before he had briefly sampled t