d Skipper Ed. "The dogs! The dogs will help us!
Run, lads, and get to the door! I'll stop and help hold them with my
rifle till you get in!"

But Bobby and Jimmy would not have it so. They, too, turned, and in the
dim light of the shadowed forest the three fired into the face of the
pack until their rifles were empty. Whether or not any of the animals
fell they could not see, but the pack paused for a moment in surprise.
Then the dogs charged them, and as the three reached the cabin door
yelps and snarls told of the clash as the dogs met their wild kin of the
hills in battle.

"Thank God!" again breathed Skipper Ed when the three, panting for
breath, were safe in the cabin, a moment later, with the good stout door
between them and the ravenous pack, which presently came snapping and
snarling around the cabin. "I never saw such a pack of wolves before. I
never knew that they gathered in such numbers in these days. There must
be at least thirty of them."[C]

[Footnote C: Not many years ago a pack of upwards of thirty of these great
northern wolves appeared a few miles to the southward of this point. One
of my friends was driven to the shelter of his cabin to escape
them.--Author.]

"The dogs! Partner, what will become of our dogs?" exclaimed Jimmy.
"They'll kill our fine dogs!"

"I'm afraid they will," agreed Skipper Ed, who had lighted a lamp and
was loading the magazine of his rifle. "Load up, partner. Load up,
Bobby. We'll see what we can do from cover."

"We must have killed some of them!" Bobby exclaimed excitedly. "I know I
did! I saw three fall when we shot!"

"Yes, of course we did," agreed Skipper Ed, "but there are enough of
them we didn't kill. Here, you chaps," he added, raising a window three
or four inches. "You should get some good shots from here. I'll try my
luck from the shed door."

They had turned the lamp low, that they might see the better what was
going on out of doors. The wolves, baffled by the sudden disappearance
of their quarry, were ranged a little distance from the porch door, save
two or three of the bolder ones, which were sniffing at the door itself.
The dogs were nowhere to be seen.

"Look out!" called Bobby to Skipper Ed, who was about to open the porch
door. "Some of them are right at the door!"

Then he and Jimmy began shooting. The wolves at the door fell, and
Skipper Ed, opening the door a little way, joined in a fusillade at the
main pack. The rapid reports of the rifle