d, when he had bundled all and looped
them securely together, he flung the other end of the lasso over a high
branch, until it hung down so that he could reach it. He now pulleyed
up the meat--until it was ten feet or more from the ground--and then
fastened his rope to a log.

"Now, gentlemen," muttered he, fancifully addressing the wolves, "you
may prowl about and howl till your throats are sore, but you don't keep
me five minutes longer from my rest--that you don't."

So saying, he laid himself down, and commenced wrapping himself in his
blankets.

"Ha!" he continued, as he caught a glimpse of several of the animals
running forward and looking upwards at the swinging meat; "Ha!
Messieurs Loups, don't you wish you may get it? Ha! ha! ha! Good
night!"

So speaking and laughing, he stretched himself alongside his brothers,
and in five minutes' time was snoring as loudly as either of them.

But Basil, with all his craft, was not so cunning upon the present
occasion as he thought himself--not half so cunning as the wolves, whom
he believed he had outwitted. The latter, seeing that he had gone to
sleep, boldly drew nearer and nearer, until scores of them covered the
spot over which hung the meat. Here they ran about, tumbling over each
other, and all looking upward. They remained silent, however, lest they
might awake the sleepers. Some sat quietly on their hams with eyes
fixed on the tempting morsel, but not making any effort to get at it, as
they knew it was beyond their reach. These were, no doubt, the older
and wiser ones. Others kept trying their prowess in lofty leaping; but,
although the most active of them could get their noses within a few
inches of the meat, it only tantalised them the more. One, however, who
seemed the best jumper of the pack, at last succeeded in snatching a
small piece that hung lower than the main bunch. He was immediately set
upon as soon as he had touched the ground, and chased and worried by the
rest, until he was glad to drop the morsel to save himself. His
success, however, emboldened others to try; and they went on springing
upward as before--but to no purpose.

A new idea, however, seemed now to have got into the heads of the older
ones; they who up to this time had sat looking on. Several of these ran
towards the log, where the lasso was tied; and, seizing the latter in
their teeth, commenced gnawing it! It did not take them long to
accomplish their purpose. In le