cords and straw in a pretty tight parcel, which was fastened to the sledge by a long rope twisted to almost iron hardness.  Away they drove at full speed; and when fairly in the forest, the pork was thrown down, and allowed to drag after the sledge, the smell of it bringing wolves from every quarter, while the hunters fired at them as they advanced.  I have seen a score of skins collected in this manner, not to speak of the fun, the excitement, and the opportunities for exhibiting one’s marksmanship and courage where one would most wish to have them seen.

The peasants said it was never lucky when Christmas came without a wolf-hunt:  but that year it was like to be so; for, as I have said, the snow kept falling at intervals, with days of fog and thaw between, till the night before the vigil.  In my youth, the Lithuanians kept Christmas after the fashion of old northern times.  It began with great devotion, and ended in greater feasting.  The eve was considered particularly sacred:  many traditional ceremonies and strange beliefs hung about it, and the more pious held that no one should engage in any profane occupation, or think of going to sleep after sunset.  When it came, our disappointment concerning the wolf-hunt lay heavy on many a mind as well as mine; but a strong frost had set in before daybreak, and at the early nightfall a finer prospect for sledging could not be desired—­over the broad plain, and far between the forest pines; the ice stretched away as smooth and bright as a mirror.  The moon was full, and the stars were out by thousands:  you could have read large print by the cold, clear light, as my cousins and I stood at my uncle’s door, fervently wishing it had been any other evening.  Suddenly, our ears caught the sound of bells and laughing voices, and in a few minutes up drove the Lorenski sledge in its gayest trappings, with Constanza, the Russian countess, and the young cousins, all looking blithe, and rosy in the frosty air, while Emerich and Theodore sat in true hunter’s trim, and Father Cassimer himself in charge of the reins, with the well-covered pork beside him.  They had two noble horses of the best Tatar blood, unequalled in the province, as we knew, for speed and strength; and Emerich’s cheerful voice first saluted us with:  ’Ho! friends, it is seven hours yet till midnight:  won’t you come with us?—­it is a shame to let Christmas in without a wolf-skin!’

That was enough for us:  we flew in for our equipments.  My uncle was not at first willing that we should go; but the merry company now at his door, the unequivocal countenance which Father Cassimer gave to the proceeding, and the high spirits of the young Russians, who were, as usual, wild for the sport, made him think that, after all, there was no harm in the young people taking an hour or two in the woods before mass, which on Christmas-eve begins always at midnight.  Our hunting-gear was donned in a trice; and with my uncle’s most trusty man, Metski, to assist in driving, away we went at full speed to the forest.