oversetting by the positions of
Kanchin and myself.

"Just as the sledge righted, and ran upon both runners, I heard a
piercing cry. Ivan, occupied with his horses, was not able to cling
like ourselves; he fell from his seat, and hardly struck the snow
before the wolves were upon him. That one shriek that filled my ears
was all he could utter. The reins were trailing, but fortunately
where they were not likely to be entangled. The horses needed no
driver; all the whips in the world could not increase their speed. Two
of our guns wore lost as we turned from the by-road, but the two that
lay under me in the sledge were providentially saved. We fired as fast
as possible into the dark mass that filled the road not twenty yards
behind us. Every shot told but the pursuit did not lag. To-day I
shudder as I think of that surging mass of gray forms with eyes
glistening like fireballs, and the serrated jaws that opened as if
certain of a feast.

[Illustration: FATAL RESULT.]

"A stern chase is proverbially a long one. If no accident happened to
sledge or horses we felt certain that the wolves which followed could
not overtake us.

"As we approached home our horses gave signs of lagging, and the
pursuing wolves came nearer. One huge beast sprang at the sledge and
actually fastened his fore paws upon it. I struck him over the head
with my gun and he released his hold. A moment later I heard the
barking of our dogs at the house, and as the gleam of the lantern
caught my eye I fell unconscious to the bottom of the sledge. I woke
an hour later and saw Kanchin pacing the floor in silence. Repeatedly
I spoke to him but he answered only in monosyllables.

"The next day, a party of peasants went to look for the remains of poor
Ivan. A few shreds of clothing, and the cross he wore about his neck,
were all the vestiges that could be found. For three weeks I lay ill
with a fever and returned to St. Petersburg immediately on my
recovery. Kanchin has lived in seclusion ever since, and both of us
were gray-haired within six months."

Before the construction of the railway between Moscow and Nijne
Novgorod there were forest guards at regular intervals to protect the
road from bears and wolves. The men lived in huts placed upon
scaffoldings fifteen or twenty feet high. This arrangement served a
double purpose; the guards could see farther than on the ground and
they were safe from nocturnal attacks of their four-footed enemies.

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