132 WARWICK WOODLANDS. 



called a stick, but what you and I, Frank, should term a fair- 

 sized tree ; and with his foot upon the brindled monster's neck 

 was quaffing copious rapture from the neck of a quart bottle 

 once full, but now well nigh exhausted of his appropriate and 

 cherished beverage.* Thus fell the last wolf on the Hills of 

 Warwick ! 



" There, I have finished my yarn, and in good time," cried 

 Harry, " for here we are at the bridge, and in five minutes more 

 we shall be at old Tom's door.'' 



"A right good yarn !" said Forester ; " and right well spun, 

 upon my word." 



" But is it a yarn ?" asked A , " or is it intended to be 



the truth V 



" Oh ! the truth," laughed Frank, " the truth, as much as 

 Archer can tell the truth ; embellished, you understand, embel- 

 lished I" 



" The truth, strictly," answered Harry, quietly " the truth 

 not embellished. When I tell personal adventures, I am not in 

 the habit of decorating them with falsehood." 



" I had no idea," responded the Commodore, " that there 

 had been any wolves here so recently." 



" There are wolves here now" said Archer, " though they are 

 scarce and wary. It was but last year that I rode down over 

 the back-bone of the mountain, on the Pompton road, in the 

 night-time, and that on the third of July, and one fellow follow- 

 ed me along the road till I got quite down into the cultivated 

 country." 



" The devil he did !" 



" How did you know he was following you ?'' exclaimed Frank 

 and the Commodore, almost in a breath. 



" Did you see him ?" 



" Not I but I heard him howl half a dozen times, and each 

 time nearer than before. When I got out of the hills he was 

 not six hundred yards behind me." 



" Pleasant, that ! Were you armed ? What did you do ?'' 



"It was not really so unpleasant, after all for I knew that 

 he would not attack me at that season of the year. I had my 

 pistols in my holsters ; and for the rest, I jogged steadily along, 

 taking care to keep my nag in good wind for a spirt, if it should 



* The facts and incidents of the lame wolf's death are strictly true, al- 

 though they were not witnessed by the writer. 



