by hunger, even
entered villages, where they attacked and killed many women and
children, made their entrance into sheds, and tore dogs, horses,
and cattle to pieces, and became at last so dangerous that the
villagers were obliged to keep great fires burning in the streets
at night, to frighten them away. Several times the occupants of the
hut were awakened by the whining and snarling of wolves outside.
But the walls and roof were alike built of solid timber, and a
roughly-made door of thick wood was now fastened, every night,
against the opening, and so stoutly supported by beams behind it as
to defy assault. Beyond, therefore, a passing grumble at being
awakened by the noise, the men gave themselves no trouble as to the
savage animals outside.

"If these brutes grow much bolder," the captain said one day, "we
shall be prisoners here altogether. They must have come down from
the great forest that extends over a large part of Russia. The
villages are scarce there, and the peasants take good care to keep
all their beasts in shelter, so no doubt they are able to pick up
more at the edge of the forest here."

"How far are we from the Russian frontier?"

"I do not think anyone could tell you. For aught I know, we may be
in Russia now. These forests are a sort of no man's land, and I
don't suppose any line of frontier has ever been marked. It is
Russia to the east of this forest, some thirty miles away, and it
is Poland to the west of it. The forest is no good to anyone except
the charcoal burners. I have met both Russians and Poles in the
wood, and, as there is plenty of room for all--ay, and would be
were there a thousand to every one now working in it--they are on
friendly terms with each other, especially as the two nations are,
at present, allied against Sweden."

In spite of the wolves, Charlie continued his walks in the forest,
accompanied always by Stanislas. Both carried axes and pistols,
and, although Charlie had heard many tales of solitary men, and
even of vehicles, being attacked by the wolves in broad daylight,
he believed that most of the stories were exaggerations, and that
the chances of two men being attacked in daylight were small,
indeed.

He had found that the track, by which the cart had brought the
stores, was a good deal used, the snow being swept away or levelled
by the runners of sledges, either those of peasants who came into
the forest for wood or charcoal, or of travellers journeying
bet