He had found that the track, by which the cart had brought the stores, was a good deal used, the snow being swept away or levelled by the runners of sledges, either those of peasants who came into the forest for wood or charcoal, or of travellers journeying between Russia and Poland.  He generally selected this road for his walk, both because it was less laborious than wading through the untrodden snow, and because there was here no fear of losing his way, and he was spared the incessant watchfulness for signs that was necessary among the trees.  At first he had frequently met peasants’ carts on the road, but, since the cold became more severe and the wolves more numerous and daring, he no longer encountered them.  He had indeed heard, from some of the last he saw, that they should come no more, for that the charcoal burners were all abandoning their huts, and going into the villages.

One afternoon, when they had, on their return, nearly reached the spot where they left the road to strike across the forest to the hut, they heard a noise behind them.

“That is a pack of wolves, in full cry!” Stanislas exclaimed.  “You had better get up into a tree.  They are after something.”

They hastily clambered into a tree, whose lower branches were but six or seven feet from the ground.  A moment later two horses, wild with fright, dashed past, while some twenty yards behind them came a pack of fifty or sixty wolves.  They were almost silent now, with their red tongues hanging out.

“The brutes have been attacking a sledge,” Stanislas said in a low tone.  “You saw the horses were harnessed, and their broken traces were hanging by their side.  It is easy to read the story.  The sledge was attacked; the horses, mad with fear, broke their traces and rushed off, or perhaps the driver, seeing at the last moment that escape was impossible, slashed the ropes with his knife, so as to give the horses a chance.  I expect they got a start, for the wolves would be detained a little at the sledge.”

“Do you think the poor beasts will get safe out of the forest, Stanislas?”

“I don’t think so, but they may.  The chase has evidently been a long one, and the wolves have tired themselves with their first efforts to come up to them.  It did not seem to me that they were gaining when they passed us.  It is simply a question of endurance, but I fancy the wolves will last longest.

“See, here is a party of stragglers.  I suppose they stopped longer at the sledge.”

“It seems to me they are on our scent, Stanislas.  Do you see, they are coming along at the side of the road where we walked, with their heads down.”

“I am afraid they are.  Well, we shall soon see.  Yes, they are leaving the road where we did.”

A moment later a dozen wolves ran up to the trunk of the tree, and there gathered snuffing and whining.  Presently one caught sight of the two figures above them, and with an angry yelp sprang up in the air, and immediately all were growling, snarling, and leaping.  Charlie laughed out loud at their impotent efforts.