er what they're after?" thought Albert.

But he went on, maintaining his good pace, and then he heard
behind him a cry that was a long, ferocious whine rather than a
howl. Albert looked back and saw under the trees, where the snow
was lighter, a dozen leaping forms. He recognized at once the
old pests, the timber wolves.

"Now, I wonder what they're after?" he repeated, and then as the
whole pack suddenly gave tongue in a fierce, murderous howl, he
saw that it was himself. Albert, armed though he was--neither
boy ever went forth without gun or revolver--felt the blood grow
cold in every vein. These were not the common wolves of the
prairie, nor yet the ordinary wolf of the East and Middle West,
but the great timber wolf of the Northwest, the largest and
fiercest of the dog tribe. He had grown used to the presence of
timber wolves hovering somewhere near, but now they presented
themselves in a new aspect, bearing down straight upon him, and
pushed by hunger. He understood why they were about to attack
him. They had been able to secure but little of the large game
in the valley, and they were drawn on by starvation.

He looked again and looked fearfully. They seemed to him
monstrous in size for wolves, and their long, yellowish-gray
bodies were instinct with power. Teeth and eyes alike were
gleaming. Albert scarcely knew what to do first. Should he run,
taking to the deepest snow, where the wolves might sink to their
bodies and thus fail to overtake him? But in his own haste he
might trip himself with the long, ungainly snowshoes, and then
everything would quickly be over. Yet it must be tried. He
could see no other way.

Albert, almost unconsciously prayed for coolness and judgment,
and it was well for him that his life in recent months had taught
him hardihood and resource. He turned at once into the open
space, away from the trees, where the snow lay several feet deep,
and he took long, flying leaps on his snowshoes. Behind him came
the pack of great, fierce brutes, snapping and snarling, howling
and whining, a horrible chorus that made shivers chase one
another up and down the boy's spine. But as he reckoned, the
deep snow made them flounder, and checked their speed.

Before him the open ground and the deep snow stretched straight
away beside the lake until it reached the opening between the
mountains in which stood Castle Howard. As Albert saw the good
track lie before him, his hopes rose, b