were soon very much in the land of nods: Stanislaus with his head thrust
back as far as it would go, and Anno with her head leaning slightly
forward and her chin deeply rooted in the silvery recesses of her rich
fur coat.

The driver stopped for a moment. He had to attend to his lights, which,
he reflected, were behaving in rather an odd manner. Then, scratching
his head thoughtfully, he cracked his whip and drove hurriedly on. Once
again, rumble, rumble, rumble; and no other sounds but far away echoes
and the gentle cooing of a soft night breeze through the forked and
ragged branches of the sad and stately pines. On, on, on, the light
uncertain and the horses brisk. Suddenly the driver hears something--he
strains his ears to catch the meaning of the sounds--a peculiar, quick
patter, patter--coming from far away in the droshky's wake. There is
something--he can't exactly tell what--in those sounds he doesn't like;
they are human, and yet not human; they may proceed from some one
running--some one tall and lithe, with an unusually long stride. They
may--and he casts a shuddering look over his shoulder as the thought
strikes him--they may be nothing human--they may be the patter of a
wolf! A huge, gaunt, hungry wolf! an abnormally big wolf! a wolf with a
gallop like that of a horse! The driver was new to these parts; he had
but lately come from the Baron's establishment in St. Petersburg. He had
never been in this wood after dark, and he had never seen a wolf save in
the Zoological Gardens. The atmosphere now began to sharpen. From being
merely cold it became positively icy, and muttering, "I never felt
anything like this in St. Petersburg," the driver shrank into the depths
of his furs, and tried to settle himself more comfortably in his seat.
The horses, too, four in number, were strangers in Estonia, the Baron
having only recently paid a heavy price for them in Nava on account of
their beauty. Not that they were merely handsome; despite their small
and graceful build, and the glossy sleekness of their coats, they were
both strong and spirited, and could cover twenty-five versts without a
pause. But now they, too, heard the sounds--there was no doubt of
that--and felt the cold. At first they shivered, then whined, and then
came to an abrupt halt; and then, without the slightest warning, tore
the shifting tag and rag tight around them, and bounding forward, were
off like the wind. Then, away in their rear, and plainly au