St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-12-18


plank door open and disappeared
Pretty soon | heard him undoinp til,
stanelons and talking to the cattle
then heard him open the sheep
door.
The first to come out were the oxen
ana they acted qHeerly, shifting Will
their noses high in the air. When til,
COW came out she acted just the same
was so much taken up watching
them. that l didn't notice anything
else
"When Uriah came ont behind the
sheep, he called out, sis, did You hear
that noise 2 / shook my head; the
cattle were going down to the brooE
crunching the snow under their hoofs
There Y he cried, and then a sound
came distinctly, though ut distance
then another broke in, and still anoth-
| er, .antil it swelied into a horrible cho
rus We knew what it. vast was
the cruel wolf-howi, for only last win.
ter lwe had heard the pack of wolves
thsp-ran down and killed Mr.. Sweeny';
horse, on the Branch, mile away.
1.-The chorus of howls had hardly
ceased, when it was answered from the
woods above the house.
lyon may well believe we were
frightened at the uearness of the an
swer, but we had still worse fright
to endure, for the sound had not stop
ped when three gaunt, ugly wolves
came shambling across the open space
and stopped opposite where the cattle
were drinking, tapping out their long
red tongues hungriIy. The cattle
tossed up their heads and snorted.
They all started for the barn, but the
oxen soon stopped and faced round.
with lowered horns, and old Star bel
lowed. | think that was what started
them off, for away they ran, Jumping
the stump fence into the road.
'The COW and sheep had taken to
their heels and the. poor sheep bleated
with fright. Some ran round the
barn; some toward the house, and the
cosset ran up the brook. The oxen
stood their ground, keeping their heads
to the wolves, stamping and snorting
till the wolves got into the road Just
as they went over the knoll ont of
sight, one lifted up his head and gave
an awful howl. At that the oxen
started for the barn with the speed of
race horses, rushing past Uriah-it's a
wonder. they hadn't knocked him
down for he was too frightened to
get ont of their way.
.'We had heard two or three howls
III different directions, but the cOnfu-
sion and fright and all were so sudden.
that we had not much time to think or
to move.
"lhe poor sheep that ran behind
the barn came back. bounding and
Jumping every way, as if they were
blind, and right behind them came
another wolf At sight of him
screamed. think nobody ever heard
such scream. fancy the wolf never
did for he turned and ran. As soon as
got my breath. called to Uriah.
Kun to the house = But he didn't; he
only lodged into the yard, calling
Troll Troll =
81 opened the donrand the dog came
out, smiling the air and shaking him
sell as H--to sfrirke off the fear of his
FORMER encnunter, aud ran barking to
the barn. Uriah opened the door for
him, and as soon as saw him, cried
again, Run for The houseI' = Oh. how
white he was -.-..
- Il can't he said, the sheep
'Ah," said grandmother, moving her
head proudly, "as frightened rs he
was. he never once thought of disobty-
ing fathers orders to see the cattle shut
in.
"Troll, understanding the word
sheep as command to go drive them
in, for he was accustomed to drive
the sheep and cattle as part of his
duty, soon had them all in but the
cosset. Uriah fastened them in. He
and the dog came ont of the ward, and
in moment more the plank door was
shut too and fastened.
81 thought they had forgotten the
lamb, and cried out 'Oh, poor Dicky's
in the brook y In my anxiety for our
pet | forgot everything else and ran
down the path to watch them get him
out of the brook. AS they were com
ing up the path, another howl broke on
the air The hOrrid sound seemed
actually to surround us, it was so near,
and with preeipitate lrlste we fled to
the house
Zone glance up into the woods back
of the house showed us more wolves
Sinking among the trees. Uriah did
not let go his hold on DickY's wool, and
we all hurried pell-melI into the house,
baby Hnldah and !, the dog, Uriah and
the lamb.
''As soon as the door was shut and
buttOned, burst ont crying and laugh
ing together, saying 'hush = to baby.
and ! don't know to this day whether
she was crying or not. The fright
IN n.n pln rr nnI fl,. .,f
made me laugh, suppose.
''Uriah walked about the room.
breathing hard ; the dog walked after
him, while Dicky stood trembling in
the middle of the floor with the water
dripping off his wool. He shook so
hard that his hoOfs made clatter on
the floor. When we noticed that, we
laughed. Then | saw how near Uriah
was to or, ing, for big sob came up in
his throat.
It last we became calm enough to
begin to speculate what the calling of
the pack meant. For the wolf is a
miserable coward. If one is alone and
he starts up some game, he commences
howling for help, and every wolf that
hears will give an answering howl. So
1t goes Oh until enough wolves have
assembled to worry down whatever
animal they are chasing. | believe
there Is no death so horrible to think
OF as being torn to pieces by the
wolves, and no suffering can equal. it
but the cruel death-cIiase. When we
were somewhat composed, | don't
know which thought of it first. Uriah
or |, for we both spoke in n breath,
Father and mother = and we stared in
to,each others white faces.
ooh" said grandmother, and she
bowed her pale, sweet face for il mo
nient on her trembling hands sin all
the years that have passed, cannot
forget the agony of those few hours.
The cruel howl went on. sometimes