mass, were seen emerging from the forest.
The affrighted steeds tore on. It was with difficulty the miller could
keep them together. His wife clasped her infant closer to her bosom.
The children looked from under their fur covering, and then shrunk down
again shivering with fear, for they had an instinctive dread of the
danger which threatened them. The stout miller, who scarcely before had
ever known what fear was, turned pale, as the sharp, eager yelps of the
infernal pack sounded nearer and nearer behind him. He had no weapons
but his long whip and a thick stick. He clenched his teeth, and his
breath came fast and thick, as the danger grew more imminent. With
voice, and rein, and whip, he urged on his steeds, yet they wanted, as I
said, no inducement to proceed. They felt the danger as well as their
master. The miller's wife sat still, an icy coldness gathering round
her heart. All they had to trust to was speed. The nearest _isba_
where they could hope for aid was yet a long way off; yet rapidly as
they dashed onward, the hungry pack were fleeter still. A miracle alone
could save them--from man they could expect no help.

"`On!--on! My trusty steeds,' shouted the miller. `Courage, wife!--
courage! We may distance them yet. Trust in the good saints; they may
preserve us. Oh that I had my gun in my hand, I would give an account
of some of these brutes!'

"In vain, in vain the horses stretched their sinews to the utmost. Fast
though they flew through the air, the savage brutes were faster still.
The miller's shouts and cries seemed for a short time to keep the
animals at bay, but still they were gathering thickly around the sledge,
singling out its inmates for their prey.

"The poor children shrieked with terror as they beheld the fiery eyes,
the open mouths, and hanging tongues of the fierce brutes close to the
sledge. They fancied that they could feel their hot breath on their
cheeks--the terrible fangs of the animals seemed every instant about to
seize them. Again and again they piteously shrieked out--

"`Oh, father!--oh, mother, mother! Save us!'

"The miller frantically lashed and lashed, and shouted to his steeds,
till his voice almost failed him. They could go no faster. Already,
indeed, their strength began to flag. `If they fail me at this juncture
all will be lost,' thought the miller; `still I'll not give up hope.'

"Again he lashed his horses, and then he lashed and lashed arou