ve satisfied the gnawings of my stomach, and held out longer.

At length, when I was beginning to despair of relief, my ear caught the
same yelping, yelling sound which had warned me of the approach of the
wolves when I was in the river. On looking out, I saw a couple of
buffalo bulls galloping across the prairie, with a pack of wolves on
their trail. The animals still surrounding the tree also heard the
sounds. They looked up wistfully at me, making a few desperate efforts
to reach the branch on which I was seated; but finding that all their
attempts were vain, first one started off in the direction the other
pack had taken, then another and another went away. In a few minutes
only three hungry animals remained, gnawing at the bones of the white
wolves and some of their own nearer relatives whom I had shot. These I
did not fear to encounter. Killing one from where I sat, and then
reloading, I jumped down from my perch. The brutes snarled, and one of
them made a spring at me; but I shot him, and knocked the other over
with the butt of my rifle, thereby saving a charge of powder and lead.

Hunger induced me to cut a slice out of one of the wolves, although it
was with no pleasant feelings that I did so. For some minutes I gnawed
away at the unsavoury morsel, till nausea compelled me to stop. I then
set to work to collect sticks and branches, the waning daylight scarcely
affording me sufficient time to pick up as many as I required. With
those I could obtain I lighted a fire, spreading it in a circle; then,
satisfied that it would burn brightly for a couple of hours, and that no
wolves would venture to break through it, I lay down to obtain the rest
I so much needed.

When I awoke, a circle of hot embers alone remained. As I had a small
supply of wood yet unconsumed, I began to throw on stick after stick, to
keep up the fire as long as possible, when I again heard that horrid
yelping close to me, and through the darkness I could see the glaring
eyeballs of numberless wolves gathering round. They dared not, however,
pass the fiery boundary, and I knew that I was safe as long as I could
keep up even a slight blaze; still, my stock of wood was growing less
and less, and should a black gap appear in the circle, some of the most
savage might break through.

Having exhausted the last twig, I saw that I must do something to rid
myself of my foes. Seizing a burning branch, the end of which remained
unconsumed, I w