comer, the latter had just espied the
fox, and was about stretching out into a gallop towards him. The fox,
_watching backwards_ as he ran, had not seen the wolf, until the latter
was within a few springs of him; and now when he had turned, and both
were in full chase, there was not over twenty yards between them. The
direction in which they ran would bring them near to Lucien; and so they
came, and passed him--neither of them seeming to heed his presence.
They had not got many yards farther, before Lucien perceived that the
wolf was fast closing on the fox, and would soon capture him. Believing
he would then stop, so as to offer him a fairer chance for a shot,
Lucien followed. The wolf, however, had noticed him coming after, and
although the next moment he closed his great jaws upon the fox, he did
not pause for a single instant, but, lifting the latter clear up from
the ground, ran on without the slightest apparent diminution of speed!

Reynard was seen to struggle and kick, while he squeaked like a shot
puppy; but his cries each moment grew feebler, and his struggles soon
came to an end. The wolf held him transversely in his jaws--just as he
himself but the moment before had carried the ermine.

Lucien saw there was no use in following them, as the wolf ran on with
his prey. With some disappointment, therefore, he was about to return
to the fire, where, to add to his mortification, he knew he would find
his tea-leaves parched to a cinder. He lingered a moment, however, with
his eyes still fixed upon the departing wolf that was just about to
disappear over the crest of a ridge. The fox was still in his jaws, but
no longer struggling. Reynard looked limber and dead, as his legs swung
loosely on both sides of the wolf's head. Lucien at that moment saw the
latter suddenly stop in his career, and then drop down upon the surface
of the snow as if dead! He fell with his victim in his jaws, and lay
half doubled up, and quite still.

This strange action would have been a difficult thing for Lucien to
explain, but, almost at the same instant in which he observed it, a puff
of blue smoke shot up over the ridge, and quickly following was heard
the sharp crack of a rifle. Then a head with its cap of raccoon skin
appeared above the snow, and Lucien, recognising the face of Basil, ran
forward to meet him.

Both soon stood over the body of the dead wolf, wondering at what they
saw; but Basil, far more than Lucien--for