uching in every nook and corner of the
yard: but the wounds from balls which reached them behind the stones, or
under the carts, soon turned their fear into rage. They began to make
alarming leaps, and the most dreadful yells. The work of destruction
went on but slowly;--the men were but indifferent shots, the wolves
never an instant at rest;--and the rapidity and perseverance with which
they continued to gallop round, or leap from side to side of the yard,
as if in a cage, essentially baffled the endeavours of their enemies.

The affair was in this way becoming tedious, when an unlooked-for
misfortune threw a dreadful gloom over the whole scene.

The ladder used by one of the party being too short, the young man
placed himself on the wall, as if in a saddle, to have a better
opportunity of taking aim; when one of the wolves, the largest,
strongest, and most exasperated, suddenly bounded at the wall, as if to
clear it, but failed; subsequently the animal attempted to climb up by
means of the unhewn stones, like a cat, and though he again failed,
reached high enough almost to seize with his sharp teeth the foot of the
unfortunate lad. Terrified at this he raised his leg to avoid the
brute--lost his balance--and the same moment fell with a heart-rending
scream into the court below. Each and all the wolves turned like
lightning on their helpless, hopeless victim, and a cry of horror was
heard on every side.

The storm of leaden hail ceased: no man dared fire again, and yet
something must be done, for the monsters were devouring their unhappy
fellow-servant. Listening only to the dictates of courage and humanity,
the noble-hearted farmer, gun in hand, leaped at once into the yard, and
his men all followed his heroic example. A general and frightful
conflict ensued. The scene which then took place defies every attempt at
description. No pen could adequately place before the reader the awful
incidents that succeeded. He must, if he can, imagine the howling of the
wolves, the piteous cries of the lacerated and dying youth, the
imprecations of the men, the neighing of the horses and roaring of the
bulls in the stables; and, more than all, the crying and lamentations of
the women and children in the house--a fearful chorus--such as happily
few, very few persons were ever doomed to hear. At last the farmer's
wife, a powerful and resolute woman, with great presence of mind
unmuzzled the dogs, and threw them from a window into th