458 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 
vet still they seemed to hiss 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 J 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 evoln- 
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 baflled. 
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 FE 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. 
