d old Bob
with the spur, and went away on a hard gallop after the wounded
fugitive, who was now plodding onward at the usual long loping canter of
his tribe. For about half a mile the wood was open, and sloped gently
upward, until it joined the open country, where it was bounded by a high
rugged fence, made in the usual snake fashion, with a huge heavy
top-rail. This we soon reached; the wolf, which was more hurt than I had
fancied, beginning to lag grievously, crept through it scarcely a
hundred yards ahead of me, and, by good luck, at a spot where the top
rail had been partially dislodged, so that Bob swept over it, almost
without an effort, in his gallop; though it presented an impenetrable
rampart to some half dozen of the horsemen who had followed. I was now
in a cleared lot of some ten acres, forming the summit of the hill,
which, farther on, sunk steeply into a dark ravine full of thick
brushwood, with a small verge of thinly growing coppice not more than
twenty yards in width, on tolerably level ground, within the low
stone-wall which parted it from the cultivated land. I felt that I was
now upon my vantage ground; and you may be sure, Frank, that I spared
not the spurs; but the wolf, conscious probably of the vicinity of some
place of safety, strained every nerve and ran, in fact, as if he had
been almost unwounded; so that he was still twelve or fourteen paces
from me when he jumped on the wall.

"Once over this, I well knew he was safe; for I was thoroughly
acquainted with the ground, and was of course aware that no horse could
descend the banks of the precipitous ravine. In this predicament, I
thought I might as well take a chance at him with one of my good
pistols, though of course with faint hopes of touching him. However, I
pulled out the right hand nine-inch barrel, took a quick sight, and let
drive at him; and, much to my delight, the sound was answered by the
long snarling howl, which I had that day heard too often to doubt any
more its meaning. Over he jumped, however, and the wall covering him
from my sight, I had no means of judging how badly he was hurt; so on I
went, and charged the wall with a tight rein, and a steady pull; and
lucky for me was it, that I had a steady pull; for under the lee of the
wall there was a heap of rugged logs into which Bob plunged gallantly,
and, in spite of my hard hold on him, floundered a moment, and went
over. Had I been going at top speed, a very nasty fall must ha