e vicinity. Our
position was not enviable.

[Illustration: LOST IN A SNOW STORM.]

To be served up _au natural_ to the lupine race was never my ambition,
and I would have given a small sum, in cash or approved paper, for a
sudden transportation to the Astor House, but with my weight and
substance, all the more desirable to the wolves, a change of base was
not practicable. Our only fire-arms were a shot-gun and a pistol, the
latter unserviceable, and packed in the doctor's valise. Of course the
wolves would first eat the horses, and reserve us for dessert. We
should have felt, during the preliminaries, much like those unhappy
persons, in the French revolution, who were last in a batch of victims
to the guillotine.

After long delay the road was discovered, and as the wolves did not
come we proceeded. We listened anxiously for the renewal of their
howling, but our ears did not catch the unwelcome sound. The doctor
exhibited no alarm. As he was an old traveler, I concluded to follow
his example, and go to sleep.

In ordinary seasons wolves are not dangerous to men, though they
commit more or less havoc among live stock. Sheep and pigs are their
favorite prey, as they are easily captured, and do not resist. Horses
and cattle are overpowered by wolves acting in packs; the hungry
brutes displaying considerable strategy. A gentleman told me he once
watched a dozen wolves attacking a powerful bull. Some worried him in
front and secured his attention while others attempted to cut his
ham-strings. The effort was repeated several times, the wolves
relieving each other in exposed positions. At length the bull was
crippled and the first part of the struggle gained. The wolves began
to lick their chops in anticipation of a meal, and continued to worry
their expected prey up to the pitch of exhaustion. The gentleman shot
two of them and drove the others into the forest. He could do no more
than put the bull out of his misery. On departing he looked back and
saw the wolves returning to their now ready feast.

The best parts of Russia for wolf-hunting are in the western
governments, where there is less game and more population than in
Siberia. It is in these regions that travelers are sometimes pursued
by wolves, but such incidents are not frequent. It is only in the
severest winters, when driven to desperation by hunger, that the
wolves dare to attack men. The horses are the real objects of their
pursuit, but when once a party i