pursuing the hunt further that day. The other two
wolves were added to the procession, but they looked small and
insignificant beside the body of that killed by the boys. Harry
learned that no one had suspected that they had gone in pursuit of
the wolf. A vigilant look-out had been kept all round the thicket,
while the dogs hunted it from end to end, but no signs had been seen
of it, and none were able to understand how it could have slipped
between the watchers unseen.

After the ravine had been thoroughly beaten the party had moved
off to another cover. On their way there the marquis had missed
the two boys. No one had seen them, and it was supposed that they
had loitered behind in the forest. Two or three notes of recall had
been blown, and then no one had thought more of the matter until
they rode into the glade when the second wolf had just been pulled
down by the pack.

It was afternoon when the hunting party arrived at the chateau.
Before they started homewards the marquis had sent off two horsemen;
one to Dijon to bring a surgeon with all speed to the chateau,
the other to tell the marquise that Ernest had been hurt, and that
everything was to be got in readiness for him; but that she was not
to make herself uneasy, as the injury was not a serious one. The
messengers were charged strictly to say nothing about the death of
the demon wolf.

The marquise and her daughters were at the entrance as the party
arrived. The sight of the litter added to the anxiety which Ernest's
mother was feeling; but the marquis rode on a short distance ahead
to her.

"Do not be alarmed, Julie," he said; "the lad is not very seriously
hurt. He has been torn a bit by a wolf, and has behaved splendidly."

"The messenger said he had been hurt by a wolf, Edouard; but how
came he to put himself in such peril?"

"He will tell you all about it, my dear. Here he is to speak for
himself."

"Do not look so alarmed, mother," Ernest said as she ran down to
the side of the litter. "It is no great harm, and I should not have
minded if it had been ten times as bad."

"Bring up the wolf," the marquis said, "and Harry, do you come
here and stand by Ernest's side. Madam la marquise," he went on,
"do you see that great gray wolf? That is the demon wolf which has
for years been the terror of the district, and these are its slayers.
Your son and M. Sandwith, they, and they alone, have reaped the
glory which every sportsman in Burgundy has bee