when we found ourselves gazing in the faces of a semicircle of gigantic
wolves. The animals were squatting on their haunches at the foot of the
talus, their wicked slant eyes fixed upon us and their red tongues
lolling out from their cavernous mouths.

I cannot tell why, whether it was the state of my nerves or the effect
of the rare air of the high altitude, or what, but I felt no fear at
facing this strange wolf pack. Indeed, to me they appeared all to be
laughing and their red tongues lolled from their open mouths in a very
humorous fashion.

The whole scene appeared to me to be exceedingly funny and, in a spirit
of utter reckless bravado, I doffed my fur cap, with exaggerated
politeness made a low bow, and, addressing the largest and most
devilish-looking wolf in the pack, exclaimed,

"Ah! this is Monsieur Loup-Garou, I believe. Pardon me, Monsieur, but
did you speak a moment since?"

But Big Pete Darlinkel looked at the wolves, and great beads of sweat
stood on his forehead. It was his turn to have the shivers. There was no
more color in his face than in a peeled turnip. His gun shook in his
left hand like a aspen, while the spangled gun in his right hand dropped
its muzzle towards earth and there was scarcely strength enough in his
nerveless fingers to have pulled a hair-trigger.

Pete's great baby-blue eyes turned helplessly to me; but it was now my
innings, and with a cheery voice I cried,

"Why, Pete, old fellow, what ails you?" Then meanly quoting his own
words, I added, "They hain't nothing but wolves!"

There is not a shadow of a doubt that Pete expected the wolves to answer
me with human voice, and I am willing to confess that, even to me,
there seemed to be no other alternative for the slant-eyed bandits to
pursue. But for the present they appeared to prefer to maintain a solemn
silence.

The middle wolf had been looking intently at us for some time before a
well-modulated voice said,

"I have answered your call, gentlemen; how can I serve you?"

I was more than half expecting some such answer, but if it had not been
so evident that Big Pete was badly frightened and had lost all his
self-possession, I should have thought he was again practising his art
as ventriloquist.

Of course I deceived myself. The wolves had no more power of speech than
a house-dog. But I really thought the wolves were doing the talking
until I caught sight of a tall man of handsome and distinguished
appearance seated