e had, for the present at least,
disappeared.

"Ugh, the filthy brutes!" said Lord James. "I fought till the stench
of their hot breaths seemed to stifle me. I felt my head run round
like a dog in a fit, and down I went. What happened after that?"

"This," said Malise, sententiously, pointing to the heaps of dead
wolves which were becoming more apparent as the night ebbed and the
blue flame rose and fell like a fluttering pulse along the horizon.

"Then to one or the other of you I owe my life," said Lord James
Douglas, reaching a hand to both.

"Sholto dragged you from under half a dozen of the devils," said
Malise.

"My father it was who brought you to," said Sholto.

"I thank you both with all my heart--for this as for all the rest. I
know not, indeed, where to begin," said James Douglas, gratefully.
"Give me your hands. I can stand upright now."

So saying, and being assisted by Malise, he rose to his feet.

"Will they come again?" he asked, as with an intense disgust he
surveyed the battle-field in the intermittent light from over the
marshes.

"Listen," said Malise.

The low howling of the wolves had retreated farther, but seemed to
retain more and more of its strange human character.

"_La Meffraye! La Meff--raye!_" they seemed to wail, with a curious
swelling upon the last syllable.

"I hear only the yelling of the infernal brutes," said the Lord James;
"they seem to be calling on their patron saint--the woman whom we saw
in the house of the poor cripple. I am sure I saw her going to and fro
among the devils and encouraging them to the assault."

"'Tis black work at the best," answered Malise; "these are no common
wolves who would dare to attack armed men--demons of the nethermost
pit rather, driven on by their hellish hunt-mistress. There will be
many dead warlocks to-morrow throughout the lands of France."

"Stand to your arms," cried Sholto, from the other side of the tree.
And indeed the howling seemed suddenly to grow nearer and louder. The
noise circled about them, and they could again perceive dusky forms
which glided to and fro in the faint light among the arches of the
forest.

In the midst of the turmoil Malise took off his bonnet and stood
reverently at prayer.

"Aid us, Thy true men," he cried in a loud and solemn voice, "against
all the powers of evil. In the name of God--Amen!"

The howling stopped and there fell a silence. Lord James would have
spoken.

"Hush!" said Malise