WARWICK WOODLANDS. 127 



which had crept out to my right hand, was ^welcomed by the 

 almost simultaneous fire of three pieces, one of which only 

 lodged its bullet, a small one by the way eighty or ninety only 

 to the pound too light entirely to tell a story, in the brute's 

 loins, 



" He gave a savage yell enough as the shot told ; and, for 

 the first twenty or thirty yards, dragged his hind quarters 

 heavily ; but, as he went on, he recovered, gathering headway 

 very rapidly over the little ridge, and through the open wood- 

 land, toward a clear field on the mountain's brow. Just as this 

 passed, a dozen shots were fired, in a quick running volley, from 

 the thicket, just where an old cart-way divides it ; followed, 

 after a moment's pause, by one full, round report, which I knew 

 instantly to be the voice of old Tom's musket ; nor did I err, 

 for, while its echoes were yet vocal in the leafless forest, the 

 owner's jovial shout was heard 



" 4 Wiped all your eyes, boys ! all of them, by the Etarnal ! 

 Who-whoop for our side ! and I'll bet horns for all on us, old 

 leather-breeches has killed his'n.' 



<c This passed so rapidly in fact it was all nearly simultaneous 

 that the fourth wolf was yet in sight, when the last shot was 

 fired. We all knew well enough that the main object of our 

 chase had for the time escaped us ! the game was all afoot ! 

 three of them slain already ; nor was there any longer aught to 

 be gained by sticking to our stations. So, more for deviltry than 

 from entertaining any real hope of overtaking him, I chucked 

 my rifle to the nearest of the farmers, touched old Bob with the 

 spur, and went away on a hard gallop after the wounded fugi- 

 tive, who was now plodding onward at the usual long loping 

 canter of his tribe. For about half a mile the wood was open, 

 and sloped gently upward, until it joined the open country, 

 where it was bounded by a high rugged fence, made in the 

 usual snake fashion, with a huge heavy top-rail. This we soon 

 reached ; the wolf, which was more hurt than I had fancied, be- 

 ginning to lag grievously, crept through it scarcely a hundred 

 yards ahead of me, and, by good luck, at a spot where the top 

 rail had been partially dislodged, so that Bob swept over it, al- 

 most without an effort, in his gallop ; though it presented an 

 impenetrable rampart to some half dozen of the horsemen who 

 had followed. I was now in a cleared lot of some ten acres, 

 forming the summit of the hill, which, farther on, sunk steeply 

 into a dark ravine full of thick brushwood, with a small verge 



