the same minute that monteith sterry saw the new peril which threatened them all he darted out beside the brother and sister, who had slackened their pace at sight of the wolves in front.
"what shall we do?" asked fred; "we cannot push on; let's go up stream."
"you cannot do that," replied jennie, "for they are gathering behind us."
a glance in that direction showed that she spoke the truth. it looked as if a few minutes would bring as many there as in advance.
"we shall have to take to the woods," said fred, "and there's little hope there."
"it won't do," added the sister, who seemed to be thinking faster than either of her companions. "the instant we start for the shore they will be at our heels. make as if we were going to run in close to the right bank, so as to draw them after us; then turn and dash through them."
the manoeuvre was a repetition of the one she and her brother had executed a few minutes before, and was their only hope.
"i will take the lead with my pistol," said monteith, "while you keep as close to me as you can."
every second was beyond value. the wolves were not the creatures to remain idle while a conference was under way. at sight of the three figures near the middle of the course they rent the air with howls, and came trotting toward them with that light, springy movement shown by a gaunt hound, to whom the gait is as easy as a walk.
monteith sterry shot forward on his right foot, his revolver, with its two precious charges, tightly gripped in his naked hand.
this was to be called into play only in the last extremity. the killing of a couple of wolves from such a horde could produce no effect upon the rest, unless perhaps to furnish some of them a lunch, for one of the curious traits of the lupus species is that they are cannibals, so to speak.
his hope was that the flash and report of the weapon would frighten the animals into opening a path for a moment, through which the skaters could dart into the clear space below.
having started, monteith did not glance behind him. fred and his sister must look out for themselves. he had his hands more than full.
with a swift, sweeping curve he shot toward the bank, the brutes immediately converging to head him off. the slight, familiar scraping on the ice told him that fred and jennie were at his heels. he kept on with slackening speed until close to the shore, and it would not do to go any further. an overhanging limb brushed his face.
but his eye was on the wolves further out in the stream. the place was one of the few ones where the course was such that no shadow was along either bank. the moment most of the creatures were drawn well over toward the right shore, sterry did as his friends did awhile before, skimming abruptly to the left and almost back over his own trail, and then darting around the pack. the line was that of a semicircle, whose extreme rim on the left was several rods beyond the last of the wolves swarming to the right.
"now!" called sterry at the moment of turning with all the speed at his command.
critical as was the moment, he flung one glance behind him. fred and jennie were almost nigh enough to touch him with outstretched hand. no need of shouting any commands to them, for they understood what he was doing, or rather trying to do.
young sterry, as i have said, had cleared the horde of wolves, making the turn so quickly that they slid a rod or more over the ice before able to check themselves and change their own course.
the stratagem seemed as successful as the other, but it was too soon to congratulate themselves. at the moment when everything promised well, the most enormous wolf he had ever seen bounded from under the trees on the left bank and galloped directly for him.
he was so far in advance that the only way of dodging him was by another sharp turn in his course. to do this, however, would bring him so near the other brutes that they were almost certain to leap upon every one of the party.
"use your revolver!" called fred from the rear.
monteith had already decided that this was an exigency demanding one of the remaining charges, and he partly raised the weapon in front of him.
meanwhile, the huge wolf had stopped on seeing that the procession was coming in a straight line for him. the youth moderated his speed still more, that he might perfect his aim.
he was in the act of levelling his pistol, when the animal advanced quickly a couple of steps and made a tremendous leap at his throat. the act was unexpected, but at the instant of his leaving the ice monteith let fly with one chamber at him.
the success was better than he had a right to expect, for the leaden pellet bored its way through the skull of the wolf, who, with a rasping yelp, made a sidelong plunge, as if diving off a bank into the water, and, striking on the side of his head, rolled over on his back, with his legs vaguely kicking at the moon, and as powerless to do harm as a log of wood.
brief as was the halt, it had given the leading brutes of the main body time to come up. they were fearfully near, when the scent of blood and the sight of their fallen comrade suggested to the foremost that a meal was at their disposal. they flew at the huge fellow and rended him to shreds and fragments in a twinkling.
the only way of escape was still in front, and, with the utmost energy, power, and skill at his command, monteith sterry darted ahead. his crouching body, the head well in advance, somewhat after the manner of a racing bicyclist on the home-stretch, his compressed lips, his flashing eyes, with every muscle tense, were proof that he knew it had now become a struggle of life and death.
if he allowed one of those wolves to approach nigh enough to leap upon him, he would be borne to the earth like a flash and share the fate of the victim of his pistol. they were near, for he could hear that multitudinous pattering on the ice, when the din of their cries permitted it, and they were running fast.
but, he reasoned, if they were so close to him they must be still closer to the brother and sister, whose peril, therefore, was correspondingly greater. he looked around. he was farther from the horde than he supposed, but fred and jennie were not directly behind him, as he had thought.
at the moment an awful thrill shot through him; he caught a glimpse of fred close in shore and going like the wind. the couple were still preserved from the fangs of the wolves, but only heaven knew how long it would last.
a short distance ahead an opening showed where a creek put in from the woods and hills. monteith gave it only a glance when he skimmed past at the same furious pace as before. it looked as if there was hope at last, for the brutes first seen were all at the rear. if new danger came, it would be from others that ran out on the ice in front.
"it seems to me that all the wolves in maine are on this little river," was his thought, "but there may be a few left that will try to get into our path."
a wild cry came from his friends and he glanced toward them. not only that, but believing his help was needed, he sheered over to them as quickly as he could.
the course of the river had changed, so that a ribbon of shadow extended along that bank, partially obscuring the form of fred whitney, who seemed to cling to it as if therein lay his safety.
the brutes were now so far to the rear that there was little to be feared from them, though they still kept up the pursuit, and while able to follow in a straight line were doing so with more speed than would be expected.
it struck sterry that his friend was not skating with his utmost skill. he was alarmed.
"what's the matter, fred?" he called, drawing quickly near him.
"o, jennie! jennie! what will become of her?"
fred whitney, it was now apparent, was alone.
forgetful of the savage brutes, monteith sterry slackened his pace, and in a scared voice demanded:
"what has become of her? where is she?"
"she darted into the mouth of that creek."
"why didn't you follow?"
"i could not; it was done in a flash; she called to me to keep on and said something else which i could not catch."
"but," continued the wondering monteith, "how could she do it when she was at your side?"
"she fell a little to the rear and made a lightning turn. i attempted to follow, but it seemed half the pack were in my path, and it was certain death. i was frantic for the moment, and even now do not understand what it all meant."
"what a woeful mistake!" wailed monteith; "the chances are a thousand to one that she is lost."
"i think," said the brother, half beside himself, "that it may have been a good thing, but—"
a peculiar cry behind them caused monteith to turn his head. the wolves had gained so fast during the last few minutes that one of them was in the act of springing on fred whitney.
"stoop, quick!" shouted his companion.
fred bent low in the nick of time, and the gaunt, lank body shot over his head, landing on the ice in front. before he could gather himself a bullet from the revolver was driven into his vitals and he rolled over and over, snapping and yelping in his death-throes.
the skaters swerved aside enough to avoid him, and the next instant were skimming over the ice at their utmost speed.
it was not a moment too soon, for the halt was well-nigh fatal; but they could travel faster than the animals, and steadily drew away from them until, ere long, they were safe, so far as those creatures were concerned. they continued the pursuit, however, being a number of rods to the rear and in plain sight of the fugitives, who looked back, while speeding forward with undiminished swiftness.
but the couple could not continue their flight, knowing nothing of the missing one. the wolves were between them and her, and monteith sterry had fired the last shot in his revolver.
"how far back does that tributary reach?" he asked.
"i never learned, but probably a good way."
"its breadth is not half of this."
"no; nothing like it."
"what has become of her?"
"alas! alas! what shall i answer?"
"but, fred, she is not without hope; she can skate faster than either of us, and i am sure none of them was in front of her on the creek or she would not have made the turn she did."
"if the creek extends for several miles, that is with enough width to give her room, she will outspeed them; but how is she to get back?"
"what need that she should? when they are thrown behind she can take off her skates and continue homeward through the woods, or she may find her way back to the river and rejoin us."
"god grant that you are right; but some of the wolves may appear in front of her, and then—"
"don't speak of it! we would have heard their cries if any of them had overtaken her."
no situation could be more trying than that of the two youths, who felt that every rod toward home took them that distance farther from the beloved one whose fate was involved in awful uncertainty.
"this won't do," added monteith, after they had skated some distance farther; "we are now so far from the animals that they cannot trouble us again; we are deserting her in the most cowardly manner."
"but what shall we do? what can we do?"
"you know something of this part of the country; let's take off our skates and cut across the creek; she may have taken refuge in the limb of a tree and is awaiting us."
"isn't some one coming up stream?" asked fred, peering forward, where the straight stretch was so extensive that the vision permitted them to see unusually far.
"it may be another wolf."
"no; it is a person. perhaps quance has been drawn from his home by the racket. he is a great hunter. i hope it is he, for he can give us help in hunting for jennie—"
monteith suddenly gripped the arm of his friend.
"it is not a man! it is a woman!"
"who can it be? not jennie, surely—"
"hurry along! you are no skaters at all!"
it was she! that was her voice, and it was her slight, girlish figure skimming like a swallow toward them.
within the following minute fred whitney clasped his beloved sister in his arms, both shedding tears of joy and gratitude.
jennie had had a marvellous experience, indeed. controlled by an intuition or instinct which often surpasses reason, she was led to dart aside into the smaller stream at the critical moment when the fierce wolves were so near that escape seemed impossible. she had fallen slightly to the rear, and a single terrified glance showed her a beast in the act of leaping at her. her dart to the left was only the effort to elude him for that instant, and she was not aware of the mouth of the creek until she had entered it. then, seeing that it was altogether too late to rejoin her brother, she had no course left but to continue the flight which, until then, she had not intended.
the words which she called to fred, that were not understood by him, were to the effect that she would try to rejoin him farther down the stream, with whose many turnings she was more familiar than he.
she ascended the tributary with all the wonderful skill at her command. not only the brute that was on the point of leaping at her, but three others, turned as soon as they could poise themselves and went after her at their utmost bent.
but her change of direction was a most fortunate action. as in the case of the abrupt darting aside, when on the surface of the larger stream, it placed her considerably in advance of the nearest pursuers. add to this her power of outspeeding them when the chance was equal, and it will be seen that her only danger was from the front.
the creek was so narrow that if any of the wolves appeared before her she would be lost, for there was not room to manoeuvre as on the larger stream.
but she met none. the first signals had drawn them to the river, and if there were any near, they and she were mutually unaware of it.
as her brother had said, she was more acquainted with this section than he. she knew at what points the river and its tributary curved so as to bring them near each other. reaching that place, she buried the heels of her skate-runners in the ice, sending the particles about her in a misty shower, and quickly came to a halt. then, standing motionless, she listened.
in the distance sounded the howling of the animals so repeatedly disappointed of their prey, but none was nigh enough to cause her misgiving.
"i hope no harm has come to fred or monteith," she murmured. "both can skate fast enough to leave the wolves behind; they would have done so at once if they had not been bothered by having me with them. now they ought to be able to take care of themselves."
she sat down on the bank and removed her skates. the slight layer of snow on the leaves caused no inconvenience, for she was well shod, and the walk was not far. her fear was that some of the wolves might sneak up unseen. often she stopped and listened, but when half the distance was passed, without any alarm from that source, she believed nothing was to be feared. a little farther and she reached the main stream, the distance passed being so much less than was necessary for her escorts that she knew that she was in advance of them, even if they had continued their flight without interruption.
her club skates were securely refastened, and then she listened again.
the cries of the brutes were few and distant and could not cause alarm.
hark! a familiar sound reached her. she recognized it as made by skates gliding over the ice. rising to her feet, she remarked, with a smile:
"i think i will give them a surprise." and she did. the meeting was a happy one, and before the stroke of midnight all three were at home, where they found the mother anxiously awaiting their return and greatly relieved to learn that despite their stirring experience no harm had befallen any member of the little party.
