e tethering straps, snorting
and screaming with terror.

"Look!" cried Mollie, her voice shrilling above the noise. "There! In
the woods! Oh, run for your lives, girls! Run!"

CHAPTER IX

DANGER AHEAD

Coming toward the girls through the trees, crouched low, sinister eyes
fixed upon them, were two great timber wolves. The girls, terrified as
they were, saw at a glance that it would be of no use to run, the
movement would only infuriate the beasts and precipitate their attack.

"The trees!" gasped Betty, feeling herself in the grip of the deadly
inertia that one experiences sometimes in a nightmare. "Make for the
trees, girls; they are our only chance."

Luckily, the branches of the trees swung low to the ground, or the girls
could never have saved themselves. As it was, they had barely time to
swing themselves free of the ground when the great beasts darted into
the open, fangs bared, snarling hideously. Then----

Bang! Bang! Two sharp reports from the direction of the woodland and one
of the wolves sprang clear of the ground, then slunk into the
underbrush, while the other staggered, fell, struggled to its feet,
fell again, and after one convulsive movement, lay still.

While the girls stared, unable to follow this swift turn of events,
there was the sound of running feet coming in their direction and the
next moment two figures broke through into the cleared space.

One was a little wizened man who seemed, for all his apparent age,
extremely agile. The other was a girl, a splendid, big creature, who
stood as tall as the man, and who, like him, carried a rifle.

The two ran to the fallen animal, talking excitedly, and turned it over
to be sure it was dead. They were so absorbed that they did not notice
the girls, who dropped down quietly from their perches in the trees. The
sight of the guns carried by the newcomers had had a tremendously
reassuring effect upon them. The wonderful sensation of relief that
swept over them as they realized their almost miraculous escape, was so
keen as to be almost pain.

Still, they were not quite free from fear as they approached the
prostrate body of the big beast, over which their rescuers were still
bending. It was the girl who first discovered them.

"Hello!" she cried, straightening up and turning upon the girls a frank
regard. "You was the ones this old boy was after, eh? Look, Dad," she
added, pointing to where the four horses were still bucking and snortin