d sanguinary battle with the thorns, the stumps,
the roots, and the long wild roses, came exactly on the path where the
trap was set. The night was now nearly dark, and, in his agitation and
hurry, thinking only of his doves and the loved one, he failed to
observe that several little pieces of string were swinging to and fro in
the breeze from the branches of a thicket near him. Dreadful indeed was
it for him that he did not; for suddenly he felt a terrible shock,
accompanied by most intense pain, the bones of his leg being apparently
crushed to pieces--he was caught in the wolf-trap!

The first few moments of pain and suffering over, comprehending at once
the danger of his position, he with great presence of mind collected all
the strength he had, and by a determined effort endeavoured to open the
serrated iron jaws which held him fast: but though despair is said to
double the strength of a man, the trap refused to give up its prey; and
as at the least movement the iron teeth buried themselves deeper and
deeper with agonizing pain into his leg, and grated nearly on the bone,
his sufferings became so intense that in a very few minutes he ceased
from making any further attempts to release himself. Feeling this to be
the case, he began to shout for help, but no one replied; and as the
night drew in he was silent, fearing that his cries would attract the
notice of some of the wolves that might be prowling in the
neighbourhood, and resolved to wait patiently and with fortitude what
fate willed--what he could not avert. He had under his coat a little
hatchet, a weapon which the Morvinians constantly carry about with them,
and thus in the event of his being attacked by the dreaded animals, he
trusted to it to defend himself; but he was still not without hope that
the wolves would not make their appearance.

The night lengthened; the moon rose, and shed her pale light over the
forest. Immovable, with eyes and ears on the _qui vive_, his body in the
most dreadful agony, he listened and waited: when, all at once,
far--very far off, a confused murmur of indistinct sounds was heard.
Approaching with rapidity, these murmurs became cries and yells; they
were those of wolves--and not only wolves, but wolves on the track,
which must ere a few minutes could elapse be upon him. A pang of horror,
and a cold perspiration poured from his face;--but fear was not a part
of his nature, and by almost superhuman efforts, and, in such an awful