kets. He sprang in beside her, and Pavel
and Peter (our Pavel and Peter!) took the
front seat. Pavel drove. The party set out
with singing and the jingle of sleigh-bells,
the groom's sledge going first. All the drivers
were more or less the worse for merry-making,
and the groom was absorbed in his bride.

The wolves were bad that winter, and every
one knew it, yet when they heard the first
wolf-cry, the drivers were not much alarmed.
They had too much good food and drink in-
side them. The first howls were taken up and
echoed and with quickening repetitions. The
wolves were coming together. There was no
moon, but the starlight was clear on the snow.
A black drove came up over the hill behind
the wedding party. The wolves ran like
streaks of shadow; they looked no bigger
than dogs, but there were hundreds of them.

Something happened to the hindmost
sledge: the driver lost control, -- he was prob-
ably very drunk, -- the horses left the road,
the sledge was caught in a clump of trees, and
overturned. The occupants rolled out over
the snow, and the fleetest of the wolves sprang
upon them. The shrieks that followed made
everybody sober. The drivers stood up and

[[64]]

p063 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p064w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p065

v?