MARK SHTJFF. 195 



until the whole forest seems to be full of howling and noise ; 

 affd yet not one of these animals may be within a mile of 

 you. To a timid man, there is somthing terrific in the howl 

 of the wolves ; but in truth, they are harmless as the deer, 

 quite as wild and shy, and full as cowardly in the presence 

 of a man. They will fly as frightened from his approach, 

 unless, possibly, in the intense cold and desolation of winter, 

 when driven together and rendered desperate by hunger, 

 they might be emboldened by starvation to attack a man, 

 but even this is among the apocryphal legends of the 

 wilderness. 



" Hearing them wolves howlin'," said Hank Martin, as we 

 sat in the evening around our camp fire, " reminds me of a 

 story MARK SHUFF tells of his experience with the critters ; 

 but mind, I don't pretend to swear to its truth, for I don't 

 claim to know anything about the facts myself. I'll tell it as 

 Mark told it to me, and if it turns out to be too tough a yarn 

 to take down whole, don't lay it to me. You know MARK 

 SHUFF," said he, appealing to me, " and you may believe 

 such parts of it as you may be able to swallow, and the rest 

 ,jnay be divided up, as the Doctor said the other day, among 

 the company." 



" Go ahead," said the Doctor, " I'll take a quarter as my 

 share of the story, and you may cut it off of either end, or 

 carve it out of the middle. I'll take a quarter, tough or 

 tender." 



" You may set down a quarter to my account," said 

 Smith, " and Spalding shall take another." 



