198 WOLFISH CURIOSITY. 



enters. MARK, one cold winter's morning, started on an 

 errand to the lumber shanty I speak of, calculatin' to return 

 the same evening. The lake was frozen over, and he took 

 to the ice, as being the nearest and best travelin'. The win- 

 ter had set in airly, and the snow had lain deep for months, 

 and the game of the woods had got pretty well starved out. 

 Mark did'nt take his rifle with him, thmkin' of course that 

 he would see no game on the ice worth shootin', and a gun 

 would only be an incumbrance to him. Well, he did his 

 errand at the shanties, and started for home. I don't know 

 whether he took a drop or not, but they generally keep a 

 barrel of old rye in the lumber shanties, and my opinion is 

 that MARK was invited to take a horn, in which case, I'm 

 bold to say, the horn was taken. 



" However that may be, Mark started for home along in 

 the afternoon, and took to the ice, as he did when he went 

 up in the morning. Everything went right until he got 

 within may be a mile of home, when he heard, from a point 

 of land, a little to the left of him, a sharp, fierce bark, and 

 turning that way, he saw a great shaggy, fierce-looking wolf 

 trot out from behind a boulder and squat himself down on 

 his haunches, and eye him as if calculating the probabilities 

 of his making a good supper. While MARK was looking at 

 him, feelin' a little oneasy, he heard another sharp bark, and 

 from a point just ahead of him another great wolf trotted 

 out on to the ice, and sat himself down, eyeing him with sus- 

 picious intensity. In a moment, another came out right op- 

 posite to him, and then another, and another, until MARK 



