way, when the wolves came up to
it, and some got upon it, when I, snapping an uncharged pistol close to
the powder, set it on fire: those that were upon the timber were
scorched with it, and six or seven of them fell, or rather jumped in
among us, with the force and fright of the fire; we dispatched these in
an instant, and the rest were so frightened with the light, which the
night, for it was now very near dark, made more terrible, that they drew
back a little; upon which I ordered our last pistols to be fired off in
one volley, and after that we gave a shout: upon this the wolves turned
tail, and we sallied immediately upon near twenty lame ones, that we
found struggling on the ground, and fell a cutting them with our
swords, which answered our expectation; for the crying and howling they
made was better understood by their fellows; so that they all fled
and left us.

We had, first and last, killed about threescore of them; and had it been
daylight, we had killed many more. The field of battle being thus
cleared, we made forward again, for we had still near a league to go. We
heard the ravenous creatures howl and yell in the woods as we went,
several times, and sometimes we fancied we saw some of them, but the
snow dazzling our eyes, we were not certain: in about an hour more we
came to the town where we were to lodge, which we found in a terrible
fright, and all in arms; for, it seems, the night before, the wolves and
some bears had broke into the village, and put them in such terror, that
they were obliged to keep guard night and day, but especially in the
night, to preserve their cattle, and, indeed, their people.

The next morning our guide was so ill, and his limbs swelled so much
with the rankling of his two wounds, that he could go no farther; so we
were obliged to take a new guide here, and go to Thoulouse, where we
found a warm climate, a fruitful pleasant country, and no snow, no
wolves, nor any thing like them: but when we told our story at
Thoulouse, they told us it was nothing but what was ordinary in the
great forest at the foot of the mountains, especially when the snow lay
on the ground; but they inquired much what kind of a guide we had got,
who would venture to bring us that way in such a severe season; and told
us it was surprising we were not all devoured. When we told them how we
placed ourselves, and the horses in the middle, they blamed us
exceedingly, and told us it was fifty to one but we ha