ed in the vicinity.
Joe at first laughed, and then became confused and puzzled. He
anxiously desired to make the roar of his musket join the melee; but
at times he thought the ravenous enemy rather too numerous for him to
be in perfect safety. The firing on the island continued without
abatement. Sneak's gun was likewise still heard at regular intervals,
and what seemed an extraordinary matter to Joe was that Sneak should
yell out something or other about the "asafoetida," and "moccasin
tracks," after every discharge. Joe was not long idle. He soon saw a
huge black wolf trotting along the little deer path he had just
traversed, with its nose down to the ground. A moment after, another,
and then a third, were seen pursuing the same course, some distance
behind. Joe became uneasy. His first impulse was to scamper over to
the island: but, when he thought of the jeers and jests that would
ensue from Sneak, he resolved to stand his ground. When the foremost
wolf had approached within thirty paces of him, he leveled his musket
and fired. The wolf uttered a fierce howl and expired.

"Hang me, if I haven't floored you, any how," said he, exultingly, as
he proceeded to reload his gun with as much expedition as possible.
But the other wolves, so far from being alarmed at the fate of their
comrade, seemed to quicken their pace towards the position of Joe.
"Slash me, if there ain't too many of them!" ejaculated Joe, as he
perceived several others, and all advancing upon him. "I'll settle
your hash, by jing!" he continued, firing at the foremost one, which
was not twenty paces distant. The leaden contents of the musket
entered its breast, and it fell dead without a growl. Still the others
advanced. Joe had no time to charge his gun again.

"I'll make tracks!" said he, starting toward the frozen channel that
separated him from the island. But he had not gone ten paces before he
discovered two enormous wolves approaching from _that_ direction.
"I'll cut dirt back again!" he continued, whirling suddenly around,
and rushing back to his stand, where he stood not a moment, but sprang
up in a tree, and after attaining a large limb that put out from the
trunk, some fifteen feet above the snow, paused, and pantingly
surveyed his assailants. There were now no less than twenty wolves in
sight, and several were at the root of the tree yelping at him! "I'll
be hanged if I half like this," said he. "Snap me, if I don't begin to
believe that the