Deo. 26, 1896.] 
FOREST AND STREAWl, 
BOB 
Riga in 1690, and had in consequence been ennobled by the 
Czar, Peter the Great. And when his valet, always eager 
bo please, ventured to follow an allusion to the Kraff in- 
cident by a remark to the effecb that "the old fool would 
never have dared to attempt it in March, when the snow 
was deep and the wolves ravenous," it had the effect ot 
giving a new and definite shape to the Baron's thoughts. 
He was still smarting under the remembrance of hia mo- 
ral defeat, and as the brandy overpowered hia reason hia 
ideas became strangely mixed, and incoherent visions of 
the glory of hia ancestors, strange resemblances between 
Swedes and wolves, a burning desire to distinguish him- 
self, and above all a wild craving to do something tha,t 
would effectively set old Kraff in the shade, took riotous 
possession of his brain, and finally resulted in his taking 
the following vow: 
"By St. Peter, and by the spirit of the immortal Petro 
von Sivernoft" (be usually swore simply by St. Agnes ^Xrhm 
he was sober, as he bad less compunction in breaking a 
vow to a female saint), he would within ten days of the 
next heavy snowfall go forth alone, clad in the armor 
and armed only with the broadsword of said a,ncestor, 
and show the world (that is, old Kraff and the neighbors) 
that the Von Sivernoffs were made of as good stuff as 
ever they were." 
And he pictured himself knee-deep in bloody wolf 
corpses, laying about with bis "good sword," 
Another round of brandy and his courage rose so high 
roots as the horses dashed at speed into the Schlagerot. 
The Baron had nothmg to my to anyone, but helped him- 
sfcU fitquently and copi- 
ously Jrom tbo brandy 
flaek, "To keep him from 
catching cold," he told 
himself. Before they had 
covered ten miles he 
found his courage mount- 
ing, as became a descend- 
ant of the firet Von Siver- 
noff;nor was it dashed 
by seeing in the distance 
behind them a number 
of grizzly foroae gallop- 
ing along silently in the 
8BOW, running exactly in 
the track of the sleigh, 
apparently to avoid the 
deep snow on either side; 
sometimes disappearing 
around a turn of the 
road or against the gray 
forest as they careered 
over a rising ground, and 
again coming out in dark 
relief against the snow- 
but still following the 
trail. On dashed the 
sleigh through the dis- 
puted land of forest and 
fen, the Baron turning at 
intervals to shake his fist 
and to inform them that 
was greatly disheartened, and when at length after a 
second close encounter he found that the Bourbon arnaor 
which clad his left leg was coming loose he began to wish 
that his "carriage" would return for him. 
He was not only one-armed now, but was becoming 
exhausted, and he failed to wound a single wolf when 
THE WV^- 
Pin WA"* SET MTORlt/'r 
SQUEALING. 
BRANDY AND COURAGE. 
that he sent for old Kraff, who had been in bed some 
hours, and repeated his bold vow to that worthy. Then, 
with a view to staggering him yet more, he "wished to 
St. Peter that it could only be in the morning." 
Next morning — well, it was a different matter, and the 
nobleman began to think that perhaps he had been a lit- 
tle bit foolish the night before . He even began to ask 
himself if it would not be the pai't of a really brave man 
to back out. He was more than half inclined to do 
so when a remark from old Kraff set him a-boiling once 
more. 
It was beginning to snow, and Kraff remarked in a 
respectful, matter-of-fact torse, "Please, your Honor, there 
is a loose rivet in the first Von Sivernoff's left gauntlet. 
Had it not better be seen to?" 
The Baron sullenly gave the order, and no more was 
said. Bat as the snowfall amounted to almost nothing, 
the subject was again in abeyance. 
A week later, however, a heavy storm set in. The 
ordinary cold gray clouds of winter seem replaced or 
swamped by a lower, denser firmament, of that strange,, 
portentous hue that has been called the "priming dress,' 
and one of those storms that the word "blizzard" only 
can describe swept over the land. For two days and two 
nights it continued, and when the third day dawned clear 
and nearly calm it revealed a great change in the land- 
scape; numberless trees had been broken off, not a few 
build logs were dismantled, almost all hedges and low 
erections had disappeared from sight, and over things' 
and around everything was the deep and omnipresent 
snow. This of course meant that all the flocks and herds; 
would be gathered into stables and yards, where they 
would, be fed and protected from wild beasts. And that; 
meant great bands of roving, desperate wolves. 
Four days passed, then a week, and nothing was said^ 
"Was it really a heavy snowstorm?" Hisvowsaid "within 
ten days of the next heavy snow." '^Who was to say that, 
it was a heavy snow?" 
That afternoon the Abbe of St. Katrina made a passing 
call. 
Among other similar topics of conversation, he told of 
having found in the woods a trap sprung and in it a tuft 
of hair. 
This he brought with him, and old Kraff was sent for to 
determine the animal to which it had belonged, 
The recent storm was of course a fruitful subject of 
talk. 
"Such a terrible storm!" 
The Baron made no rejoinder to this remark, but oM 
Kraff, deferentially standing, said, "Yes, your Graeej, I 
never knew a worse in forty years." 
"They say it is bringing the wolves down out of tthe 
mountains in unusual numbers," said the Abbe, 
As the Baron still made no reply, Kraff added: 
"No doubt of it, he wquld be a brave man that would 
trail a pork bait on foot through the Schlagerot this 
night," 
The huntsman was careful to avoid his master's eye, but 
his care was needless; the Baron was glaring at the fire, 
and Kraff, when he was dismissed, felt in his bosom a 
glow of gratified revenge. 
There was no way out of it now; the ancestor's armor 
was in perfect repair, and, with the assistance of sundry 
pieces that belonged to much earlier epochs, constituted a. 
complete panoply. 
Next morning, therefore, the Baron, having propped up 
his native courage with a plentiful supply of the Dutch 
article, clothed himself in the afore-mentioned composite 
harness, and was driven forth in the sleigh with Kraff 
and a strong posse of his servants, ' 
Chapter II. ^ 
The little pig was set merrily squealing and the pork' 
leg plowed through the soft snow or bounded over the 
at the 6ver-increasing pack 
"their days were numbered." ^ , , -j * 
When at le'togth the hunters regamed the home side or 
thpi Schlagerot, the wolves to the number of tbirty; or 
forty were galloping along a few hundred yards behmd 
the sleigh. They were not yet bold enough to make an 
attack, but from time to time the band was remforced, 
and each fresh addition to their numbers gave them more 
courage. In ten minutes more the sleigli would have 
been out of the Schlagerot, and the scutcheon of the Von 
Sivernoffs would have been eternally smirched, for now 
or never was the hero's opportunity. Bat the blood, of 
the race was boiling in his veins— in fact" he was fairly 
spoiUng for the fight. He took a final pull at the "Nord- 
hauser" and a last look to his complex harness, drew the 
"good sword of his ancestor," and, as soon as the eletgh 
was partially stopped, tumbled awkwardly into the snow. 
"Call for me in an hoiir," said he, in the calm, matter- 
of-fact tone of a city caller ordering his carriage. He had 
prepared this very phrase the night before— and he flat- 
tered himself that it not only sounded very calm and self- 
possessed, but also it contained a deft shot at old Kraff, 
who at most could not claim to have faced the wolves 
that day for more than twenty minutes. 
In half a minute the sleigh was out of sight around a 
turn of the road. In a minute more Sivernoff found 
himself on the field of battle— alone and surrounded by 
forty or fifty great, grizzly, hungry wolves. He had 
chosen for his stand a sort of bay, with a huge rock be- 
hind and some trees as flankers, and before he had time 
to fully realize hvs position and the rashness of his ex- 
traordinary enterprise the wolves closed in on him. As 
soon as they saw the odd-looking animal that he seemed, 
they broke out into their full hunting cry and galloped 
forward, while the Baron, grasping his sword with both 
hands a I'ancetre, stood ready to meet his foes. On they 
came, but not straight at him, as they should if story 
books are to be believed, but like a great pack of dogs 
they swerved, growling and yelping. After circling ir- 
regularly and individually about him, looking for a 
chance to attack with advantage, they gathered snarling 
in the front of the Baron's position. 
He was so thoroughly uncomfortable and embarrassed 
by his unwonted accoutrements that he judged it better 
to act entirely on the defensive;' though, with the true in- 
stinct of his race, he longed to "rush upon his foes and 
slay them e>i masse." 
"Gome on, you miserable cowards," he shouted and 
waved his sword above his head. 
Bat the wolves kept well out of his reach, though they 
dashed about and made short rushes, till the doughty 
Baron, emboldened by their cowardice and impatient for 
blood, made a dash forward and contrived to wound a 
wolf that in retreating had fallen over a comrade. His 
yelp of pain was his own death knell, for his companior s, 
aroused by the scent of blood, tore him in pieces, and dt- 
voured him at once. Then bolder than before they rushtd 
at the Baron, who chopped and hacked vigorously with 
the ancestral blade and killed three before the pack could 
retreat; for the" fact that there was but a single point of 
approach made the hindmost wolves a continual hindranc e 
to the foremost, and the Baron, though not a little blown, 
by his exertions, shouted in triumph as he saw this fresh 
slaughter of his foes 
Now it will be remembered that the first of the Sivf r 
noffs, in his celebrated "Letters to a Victorious General,' 
df which every man of quality possesse s a copy, lays do w n 
as an invariable rule that the conqueror must follow up 
closely and completely rout a defeated enemy, and the 
present representative of the race with true soldierly in- 
stinct endeavored to carry out the ancestral injunction 
and charged on the retreating pack that he had so glori- 
(ously repulsed. Bat alas for himl his foot caught in a 
Mdden root, and down he went into the snow. 
Of course the wolves took advantage of his fall — in a 
moment they were upon him and no doubt received tho 
greatest surprise of their lives, for their teeth slipped over 
the hard steel breastplate and grated on the Crusader 
helmet, with about as much effect as a baby's toothlesj 
gums on an able-bodied lobster. 
The Baron was at first much frightsned, but managed 
to throw off his assailants and regain his feet. He shouted 
as loudly as he could, struck out with feet and fists to 
repel his foes, and then endeavored to recover the ances- 
tral sword which lay nearly buried in the snow. But 
one of the wolves darted suddenly and seized the out- 
stretched arm at the wrist. He was at once bowled oyer 
by a blow from the Baron's ndailed fiat of the other arin, 
but such was the force of his' ohop' that, though of coufse 
lie could not penetrate the armor, he dented it in so that 
it pressed deeply into the Baron's flesh, causing so much 
ipain when he tried to us6 the arm that he was practically 
one-handed. 
This wasj^such a serious calamity that Von Sivernoff 
SEIZED BY AN UNSEEN POWER. 
next they assaulted, and finally as he laid about hiin th« 
heavy sword slipped from his nerveless grasp and fell in 
the deep snow some distance off. 
In the assault which followed he was thrown down, 
and had much ado to keep the wolves from biting off his 
fingers, which were protected by the armor on the out- 
side only; and when at length he regained his position 
between the great trees he found that not only was he 
quite exhausted, but the whole of the Bourbon armament 
of his left leg was threatening to drop off. 
The situation was becoming serious, and he saw clearly 
that unless he could manage to get to and up a low-lean- 
ing tree that stood some yards away he would certainly 
be killed. He braced himself for the final rush and suc- 
ceeded in heating off his assailants till he reached the 
tree, but the moment he tried to climb he was seized by a 
dczan pairs of powerful jaws and dragged to earth, and, 
horror of horrors, the leather fastening treacherously 
giving way, the entire armor of his left leg was pulled 
off by one of the wolves. 
The poor little Baron now believed himself lost, but he 
THE COMMRMOaAllVE XAPBSTitY NOW HANQIiSa IN THE Q14EAT 
HALIi OF SIYERNOFF CASTLE. 
kicked out desperately with his right leg, on which the 
trusty Middle English protection remained intact, and 
worked round to the other side of the tree, where i, bent 
sapling seemed to promise shelter for his back while he 
made the best of his hopeless fight; and aS he reached 
out and braced himself against it in preparation for the 
next, perhaps the final assault, he suddenly f elfc ' his arm 
miraculously seized by some unseen power which jerked 
him 20ft. up in the air and held him dangling about 15ft. 
above the snow, with the astonished wolves in a circle 
