458 WILB SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 



yet still they seemed to liiss forth their breath with a sound 

 truly horrible, when an involuntary motion on my part, 

 turned me out of my course. The wolves, close behind, 

 unable to stop, and as unable to turn on the smooth ice, 

 slipped and fell, still going on far ahead ; their tongues were 

 lolling out, their white tusks glaring from their bloody 

 mouths, their dark, shaggy breasts were fleeced with foam, 

 and as they passed me, their eyes glared, and they howled 

 with fury. The thought flashed on my mind, that by this 

 means I could avoid them, viz : by turning aside whenever 

 they came too near ; for they, by the formation of their feet, 

 are unable to run on ice except in a straight line. 



I immediately acted upon this plan. The wolves, having 

 regained their feet, sprang directly towards me. The race 

 was renewed for twenty yards up the stream; they were 

 already close on my back, when I glided round and dashed 

 directly past my pursuers. A fierce yell greeted my evolu- 

 tion, and the wolves, slipping upon their haunches, sailed 

 onward, presenting a perfect picture of helplessness and 

 baffled rage. Thus I gained nearly a hundred yards at 

 each turning. This was repeated two or three times, every 

 moment the animals getting more excited and baffled. 



At one time, by delaying my turning too long, my sangui- 

 nary antagonists came so near that they threw the white 

 foam over my dress as they sprang to seize me, and their 

 teeth clashed together like the spring of a fox-trap. Had 

 my skates failed for one instant, had I tripped on a stick, 

 or caught my foot in a fissure of the ice, the story I am now 

 telling would never have been told. 



1 thought all the chances over ; I knew where they would 

 first take hold of me if I fell ; I thought how long it would 

 be before I died, and then there would be a search for the 

 body that would already have its tomb ; for oh ! how fast 

 man's mind traces out all the dread colors of death's picture, 

 only those who have been near the grim original can tell. 



