rned; and a search has
resulted in the discovery of their weapons, injured and perhaps broken,
of stains of blood and signs of a desperate struggle, but of them not so
much as a bone has remained behind."

"I thought lion hunting was an exciting sport but the lions, although
they may move and hunt in companies, do not fight in packs, as these
fierce brutes seem to do. I hope some day to try it. I should like to
send back two of their heads to hang on the wall by the side of that of
the lion I killed up in the desert."

"Next winter you may do so," the officer said. "The season is nearly
over now, and you may be sure that Hannibal will give us enough to do
without our thinking of hunting wolves. The Vacaei are fierce enough.
Perhaps two of their heads would do instead of those of wolves."

"I do not think my mother and sisters would approve of that," Malchus
laughed; "so I must wait for the winter."

The night did not pass so quietly as that which had preceded it. The
distant howling of the wolves, as they hunted in the forest, kept the
horses in a tremor of terror and excitement, and their riders were
obliged over and over again to rise and go among them, and by speaking
to and patting them, to allay their fear. So long as their masters were
near them the well trained horses were quiet and tractable, and would
at a whispered order lie down and remain in perfect quiet; but no sooner
had they left them and again settled to sleep than, at the first howl
which told that the pack were at all approaching, the horses would lift
their heads, prick their ears in the direction of the sound, and rise
to their feet and stand trembling, with extended nostrils snuffing the
unknown danger, pawing the ground, and occasionally making desperate
efforts to break loose from their picket ropes.

The work of soothing had then to be repeated, until at last most of the
riders brought their lions' skins and lay down by the prostrate horses,
with their heads upon their necks. The animals, trained thus to sleep
with their riders by their side, and reassured by the presence of their
masters, were for the most part content to lie quiet, although the packs
of wolves, attracted by the scent of the meat that had been cooked,
approached close to the camp and kept up a dismal chorus round it until
morning.

Day by day the march was continued. The country was wild and rugged,
foaming torrents had to be crossed, precipices surmounted, barren tracts