ried to fix the trigger of his gun, but he could not
get it working. He was quite near the shore now, but the wolves were
close behind. With a last desperate rush, he sprang up the steep bank.
Turning around, he was just in time to strike down with his clubbed gun
a big gray form that leaped at him with gleaming fangs. This lucky
stroke probably saved Joe's life, for the rest of the pack stopped to
devour their comrade, thus giving Joe time to get safely into the
branches of a tree. The wolves, now with bloody mouths and glaring
eyeballs, surrounded the tree and let out howls of such fierceness that
they made Joe tremble even though he knew that he was safe for the
present. He was only about a mile and a half away from their shack, and
he knew that if he did not turn up, that sooner or later Pierre would be
out to hunt him.

"But, can you imagine how pleasant it must be to be up in a tree, with
broken gun, a dozen hungry wolves beneath you and a cold night coming
on? Already Joe began to get very cold, for in his race across the lake
through the heavy snow he had broken out into a heavy perspiration. As
darkness came down he could feel the cold hand of King Frost, as it
were, reaching for him and trying to throw him down to the beasts below.
This idea took possession of Joe's mind and he fought it off with all
his strength. He tried as best he could in the gathering darkness to fix
his gun, but it was hopelessly jammed. At last he gave this up and
settled down to wait for the morning, which would surely bring Pierre to
his rescue.

"As the cold became greater, his desire to sleep became the stronger. He
felt himself nodding several times and once awoke just as he was on the
point of falling from the tree. He grabbed a branch lower down, but his
feet swung beneath and before he could get back safely on the limb one
of the watchful band below by a mighty leap snapped at his leg and took
a piece cleanly out of the calf, tearing his trousers leg almost
entirely off him. The smell of the blood put the wolves into a frenzy
and they tried again and again to reach him by leaping. They seemed
maddened by hunger, for when one of their number fell after making a
mighty upward bound, the pack was on him in a minute, and before the
horrified eyes of Joe, they tore their mate to pieces and in ten minutes
there was neither hide nor hair of him to be seen.

"Joe now had to bind up his leg as best he could. He bound the rags of
his t