forced laugh; but she
cast a look of strange warning and reproof on her brother.

'What Finn?' said the priest, catching the count's words.

'Oh, he is talking of an old nursery-tale we had in St Petersburg,'
hastily interposed the lady, though I thought her face had no memory
of the nursery in it.

'About the Finns I'll warrant,' said Father Cassimer. 'They are a
strange people. My brother the merchant told me that he knew one of
them at Abo who said he had a charm for the wolves; but somebody
informed against him for smuggling, and the Russian government sent
him to the lead-mines in Siberia. By Saint Sigismund, there's the
first of them!'

As the priest spoke, a large wolf appeared, and half the guns in the
sledge were raised. 'Not yet, not yet,' said our experienced
commander, artfully turning away as another and another came in sight.
'There are more coming,' and he gradually slackened our pace; but far
off through the moonlit woods and the frozen night we could hear a
strange murmur, which grew and swelled on all sides to a chorus of
mingled howlings, and the wolves came on by troops.

'Fire now, friends!' cried Father Cassimer. 'We are like to have skins
enough for Christmas;' and bang went all our barrels. I saw five fall;
but, contrary to expectation, the wolves did not retire--they stood
for an instant snarling at us. The distant howlings continued and came
nearer; and then from every glade and alley, down the frozen streams,
and through the wide openings of the forest, came by scores and
hundreds such a multitude of wolves as we could not have believed to
exist in all Lithuania.

'Hand me my gun, and take the reins, Metski,' cried Father Cassimer.
'Drive for your life!' he added in an under tone; but every one in the
sledge heard him. Heaven knows how many we killed; but it seemed of no
use. Our pork was swallowed, straw and all. The creatures were
pressing upon us on every side, as if trying to surround the sledge;
and it was fearful to see the leaps that some gray old fellows among
them would take at Metski and the horses. Our driver did his part like
a man, making a thousand winds and turns through the woods; but still
the wolves pursued us. Fortunately, the firing kept them off, and,
thanks to our noble horses, they were never able to get ahead of us;
but as far as we could see behind us in the moonlight, came the
howling packs, as if rising from the ground of the forest. We had seen
nothing like