ife of the love
of a brave heart.

But there was an impatient call from the front, and Wendot sprang
forward, the huntsman awakening within him at the sight of the slot of
the quarry. He looked intently at the tracks in the soft earth, and then
pointed downwards in the direction of a deep gully or cavernous opening
in the hillside, which looked very dark and gloomy to the party who
stood in the sunshine of the open.

"The beast has gone that way," he said; "and by his tracks and these
bloodstains, he has prey in his mouth. Likely his mate may have her lair
in yon dark spot, and they may be rearing their young in that safe
retreat. See how the dogs strain and pant! They smell the prey, and are
eager to be off. We must be alert and wary, for wolves with young ones
to guard are fierce beyond their wont."

He looked doubtfully at the girls, whose faces were full of mingled
terror and excitement. Godfrey read his meaning, and suggested that the
ladies should remain in this vantage ground whilst some of the rest went
forward to reconnoitre.

But Joanna, ever bold and impetuous, would have none of that.

"We will go on together," she said. "We shall be safest so. No wolf,
however fierce, will attack a number like ourselves. They will fly if
they can, and if they are brought to bay we need not go near them. But
why have we come so far to give up all the peril and the sport at the
last moment?"

"She speaks truth," said Wendot, to whom she seemed to look. "At this
season of the year wolves have meat in plenty, and will not attack man
save in self defence. If we track them silently to their lair, we may
surprise and kill the brood; but we are many, and can leave force enough
to defend the ladies whilst the rest fight the battle with the creatures
at bay."

Nobody really wished to be left behind, and there was a pleasant feeling
of safety in numbers. Slowly and cautiously they all followed the track
of the wolf downwards into the gloomy ravine, which seemed to shut out
all light of the sun between walls of solid rock.

It was a curious freak in which nature had indulged in the formation of
this miniature crevasse between the hillsides. At the base ran a dark
turbid stream, which had hollowed out for itself a sort of cavernous
opening, and the walls of rock rose almost precipitately on three sides,
only leaving one track by which the ravine could be entered. The stream
came bubbling out from the rock, passing through some