“Well, goodbye, if we do not see you again, may all good fortune attend you, and may the saints protect you from all danger.”

Charlie shook hands with the men all round, and then hurried down to the sledge.  The coachman was already in the front seat, the countess and her child had taken their places, and the two armed servants and Stanislas were standing behind, in readiness to jump on to a board fastened above the runners.

“I must apologize for keeping you waiting, countess,” Charlie said as he ran up.  “I had to explain to my friends, in a few words, how this had all come about.”

“We are also longing to know,” the count said.  “But I have not yet introduced you to my wife, nor have I learned the name of the gentleman to whom I owe so much.”

“Ah, sir,” the young countess said, holding out her hand after Charlie had given his name, “what do we not owe you?  I shall never forget it all, never.”

“We will talk when we have started, Feodora.  Let us get out of this forest as soon as we can.”

He took his place beside his wife, and set the child on his knees; his brother and Charlie sitting opposite to him.  The servants spread a bearskin rug over their knees, and then jumped into their places, as the driver cracked his whip, and the horses started.

“You must think us almost mad to be driving through the forest, at this time of the year,” the count said to Charlie.  “But the countess is a Russian.  We have been staying two months at her father’s place, a hundred miles to the east.  My two youngest children are at home, and two days since a message arrived, saying that one of them was dangerously ill.  We had heard, of course, many tales of the numbers and fierceness of the wolves, but we hoped that, by travelling only by day and with excellent horses, there was not much to fear, especially as we were five armed men.

“We fell in with a few wolves yesterday, but beat them off easily enough.  Last night, we stopped at a little village in the forest.  They certainly made me feel uneasy there, with their tales about the wolves, but there was no help for it.  We started as soon as day broke, and had driven some fifteen miles, before we came up to you.  We had not gone five when the wolves began to show themselves.

“At first, they kept well behind us, but presently we came upon a large number, who joined in near where we saw an overturned sledge, with the snow stained with blood all round it.  From there we kept up a running fight, and must have killed a score; but their numbers increased, rather than diminished, and when a fresh pack came up from ahead, a quarter of a mile before we saw you, it looked as if our case was hopeless; for the horses, which had been going at the top of their speed from the time we started, were beginning to flag, while the wolves were fast closing in upon us, and were just beginning to attack the horses, when I saw you in the road.