SKATER CHASED BY WOLVES. 459 
_ But I soon came opposite the house, and my hounds—I 
knew their deep voices—roused by the noise, bayed furiously 
from the kennels. I heard their chains rattle: how I wished 
they would break them! and then I should have protectors 
that would be peers to the fiercest denizens of the forest. 
The wolves taking the hint conveyed by the dogs, stopped 
in their mad career, and after a moment’s consideration, 
turned and fled. I watched them until their forms disappeared 
over a neighboring hill, then taking off my skates, wended 
ny way to the house, with. feelings which may be better 
imagined than described. But even yet I never see a broad 
sheet of ice in the moon-shine, without thinking of that 
snullng breath and those fearful things that followed me so 
c\.sly down the frozen Kennebec. 
