hat
they must be those of the great wolves of the northern mountains."

"They're going to attack the village," said Will. "I can tell that by
the way they're coming on."

"It is so," said Inmutanka. "They run on the snow, which is frozen so
deep that it can bear their weight."

Will threw on rapidly his deerskin suit, his buffalo overcoat and took
down his bow and quiver of arrows. Inmutanka meanwhile beat heavily on a
war drum, and in the bitter cold and darkness all who were able to fight
poured out of the lodges, Xingudan at their head, carrying Will's rifle
and revolver.

Several of the Indian women brought torches and held them aloft, casting
vivid lines of red upon the frozen snow. From the great corral came
frightened neighs and whinnies from the ponies, that knew a terrible foe
was at hand. It was probably the ponies that would have been attacked
first, but it was not in the character of the Sioux to stay in their
lodges and let their animals be devoured. Valiantly, they had rushed
forth to meet the most formidable wolf pack that had ever come out of
the north, and by the light of the torches Will presently saw the great,
gaunt, shadowy forms and the fiery eyes of the huge wolves which, driven
by hunger, had boldly attacked a village.

It was impossible for him to estimate even their approximate numbers,
but he believed they could not be less than several hundred. They
hovered a while at the north side of the village, and then old Xingudan
opened fire with the repeating rifle. Howling savagely, the wolves made
their rush. The Indians who had rifles fired as fast as they could, but
the bows, much more numerous, did the deadlier work. Will, remembering
to keep his nerves steady, and standing by the side of his foster
father, Inmutanka, sent arrow after arrow, generally at the throats of
the wolves, and he rarely missed.

But the great pack, evidently driven by the fiercest hunger, did not
give way for bullet or arrows. Huge slavering beasts, they pressed on
continually. Two or three of the older men were pulled down and devoured
before the very eyes of the people, and Will, who was rapidly shooting
away his last arrows, felt himself seized by an immense horror. If the
savage brutes should break through their line they would all be killed
and eaten. Save for a rifle or two, time had turned back ten or twenty
thousand years, when men fought continually with the great flesh-eaters
for a place on earth.

Seiz