368 THE HUNTING GROUNDS 



and, finding themselves balked of their prey, began 

 to fio-ht with each other, at times endeavouring 

 to scratch away the earth under the logs or force 

 their ways through the crevices, but the hut being 

 substantially constructed resisted all their efforts, 

 and a deadly discharge of firearms was kept up from 

 the interior, which thinned their numbers, and re- 

 venged their fallen friends, but the dead wolves were 

 speedily devoured by the survivors, who remained 

 howling and shrieking round the hut until the night 

 of the second day, when a violent storm arose, and 

 they took themselves ofi" in the dark, much to the 

 relief of the six survivors, who, seeing the coast clear, 

 made the best of their way to their homes. 



"Allah kereem, (God be merciful,) but you had 

 a wonderful escape ! " exclaimed the old colonel, 

 when the Illori chieftain had finished his story. 

 " I thank Kismut (fate) that I was not with you on 

 that day, or I should have stood but a poor chance 

 in your desperate race for life, (he weighed at least 

 eighteen stone,) and a shudder comes over me when 

 I think of it ; and if I were you, Ingleese Bey ! 

 (so he termed me,) I should give up all idea of 

 rambling about this desolate country, where one 

 sees nothing but mountains, trees, rivers, and mud ; 

 may go a moon's journey without falling in with a 

 ca/^, and where fighting comes oftener than one's 

 dinner. Be advised, and embark at once for Stam- 

 boul, where you may enjoy your ' kieftV (a dreamy 

 state of listless idleness, peculiar to the Turks,) and 



