200 , WELCOME STJCCOB. 



water, and he felt comparatively safe. He was not more 

 than a quarter of a mile from home, and cold as it was, he 

 felt sure that he could swim that distance. 



" Before being compelled to take to the water, it occurred 

 to him to halloo for Westcott, which he did with all his 

 might. The wolves did'nt appear to care much about his 

 hallooing, but kept trottin' along between him and the shore, 

 and before and behind him, drawin' the circle closer and 

 closer every ten rods ; and Mark expected every moment 

 when they'd make a rush on him, in which case he'd made 

 up his mind to make a dive into the water, along which he 

 was now travelin'. Presently he saw Westcott, with his 

 double-barrelled rifle, ste^lin' along the shore, hid from the 

 kritters by a high rocky point, within some twenty rods of 

 him. He felt all right then, for he knew that when West- 

 cott pinted that rifle at anything, something had to come. 

 It was a dangerous piece, that rifle was, 'specially when 

 loaded and Westcott was at one end of it. 



" MARK was not more than fifteen rods from the shore, 

 but that ground was occupied by the wolves ; on the right 

 was the water, into which he might at any moment be com- 

 pelled to plunge ; while both before and behind him his ad- 

 vance and retreat was alike cut off. He had noticed that 

 whenever he stopped, the wolves stopped, as if the time for 

 the rush had not yet come, and it puzzled him to understand 

 why they delayed the onset. Seeing Westcott with his rule, 

 MARK determined to treat his assailants to a choice lot of 

 profane epithets, and the way he opened on the cowardly 



