ng fiercely; then we heard the crack of D'ri's
rifle.

"More 'n fifty wolves eroun' here," he whispered as we ran up to
him. "Never see sech a snag on 'em."

The sheep were stirring nervously. Near the pen a wolf lay kicking
where D'ri had dropped him.

"Rest on 'em snooked off when the gun hollered," he went on,
whispering as before.

My mother and grandmother sat with my sisters in the cart, hushing
their murmurs of fear. Early in the evening I had tied Rover to
the cart-wheel, where he was growling hotly, impatient of the leash.

"See?" said D'ri, pointing with his finger. "See 'em?--there 'n
the dark by thet air big hemlock."

We could make out a dim stir in the shadows where he pointed.
Presently we heard the spring and rattle of a trap. As we turned
that way, the other trap took hold hard; as it sprang, we could
hear a wolf yelp.

"Meks 'em holler," said D'ri, "thet ol' he-trap does, when it teks
holt. Stay here by the sheep, 'n' I 'll go over 'n' give 'em
somethin' fer spraint ankles."

Other wolves were swarming over the dead deer, and the two in the
traps were snarling and snapping at them. My father and D'ri fired
at the bunch, killing one of the captives and another--the largest
wolf I ever saw. The pack had slunk away as they heard the rifles.
Our remaining captive struggled to get free, but in a moment D'ri
had brained him with an axe. He and my father reset our traps and
hauled the dead wolves into the firelight. There they began to
skin them, for the bounty was ten dollars for each in the new
towns--a sum that made our adventure profitable. I built fires on
the farther side of the sheep, and, as they brightened, I could
see, here and there, the gleaming eyes of a wolf in the darkness.
I was up all night heaping wood upon the fires, while D'ri and my
father skinned the wolves and dressed the deer. I remember, as
they worked, D'ri calmed himself with the low-sung, familiar music
of:--

Li too rul I oorul I oorul I ay.

They had just finished when the cock crew.

"Holler, ye gol-dum little cuss!" D'ri shouted as he went over to
him. "Can't no snookin' wolf crack our bones fer _us_. Peeled
'em--thet 's what we done tew 'em! Tuk 'n' knocked 'em head over
heels. Judas Priest! He can peck a man's finger some, can't he?"

The light was coming, and he went off to the spring for water,
while I brought the spider and pots. The great, green-roofed
temple of the woods, that had