a snarl of
rage, and suddenly confronted Roger.

"Get back, you!" yelled the senator's son, and fired point-blank at the
wolf. He hit only one ear, and in a twinkling the wolf was on his
breast, trying his best to get at Roger's throat.

CHAPTER XXI

CAUGHT IN A WINDSTORM

It was an anxious moment for all, and the others expected to see poor
Roger almost torn to pieces. The wolf was big and strong, and hunger and
the wounds it had received made it a formidable antagonist. Its eyes
gleamed like those of a tiger.

"Help! help!" cried Roger, and then his words were drowned in the crack
of Dave's pistol. Taking the best aim he could, the youth fired three
times, and the wolf was hit in the side and the rump. It fell to the
ground, whirled over and over in the snow, and started for Dave. Then
Granbury Lapham fired, and the wolf fell over on its side. A moment
later the mountaineer rushed in, and with a club he had picked up at the
sheepfold dashed out the brains of the creature; and thus the strange
and unexpected encounter came to an end.

Roger had suffered little more than a few scratches, yet he was so weak
that the others had to support him back to the hut.

"I--I felt it was my last minute on earth!" he gasped. "If that wolf had
been left alone another ten seconds he would have bitten me in the
throat!"

"He was certainly a savage beast," replied Dave. He, too, was trembling,
in spite of all he could do to control himself.

Several lights were now lit; and leaving Roger at the hut, the others
went around to view the damage done. The mountaineer mourned the loss of
his sheep, but was rejoiced to know so many wolves were dead.

"I know that big wolf," he told the Englishman. "He had given me a great
deal of trouble. He was the leader of the pack. Now he is gone, perhaps
I shall have peace for the rest of the winter."

The sleigh driver had returned with the runaway horse. The animal was
highly excited and the driver had all he could do to quiet the steed.

"I could tell a long story about this horse," said the sleigh driver.
"Once we were caught near Stamo in a great snow. The wolves came after
us and this horse was bitten in the flank. That is what made him so
afraid. The other horses do not know what wolves really are, and they
did not mind them any more than they would so many dogs."

"This is a Christmas night to remember," said Dave, when they finally
turned in again. "Roger, if this sort of