, 1888-09-02

badly.
Alfred had not seen the adventure, and
was ignorant Of it until Marie told him of
it at their next meeting.
The Nagot hamlet, as stated above,
was situated near a large forest, which
has now given place to a Populous and
fourishing neighborhood. This forest
had once beer famous for the terrible
wolves which haunted it in the winter
season. Of late years they had disap-
peared, but now, as the winter set fairly
in, they came again. OF course, popu-
lar prejudice at once declared that these
monsters were not real wolves, but wehr-
wolves, or, in other words, the Nagots
who inhabited the hamlet, and this was
the occasion of renewed prosecutions.
Marie and Alfred continued to meet in
the forest, and if they knew that the
wolves were there paid no attention to
them.
Late one afternoon Marie started out
to cut some wood for her hut. Taking
her Ratchet, she set out, and, although it
was late and the distance long, bent her
steps toward that part of the wood where
she usually met her lover, hoping she
might see him there. Arriving at the
spot, she saw nothing of him, and as the
Id hlltoS wac IOLlluS OI, Atl db OIlSS W
chopping her wood.
She o o obtained a sufficient quantity
and was about to return home, when she
saw him coming toward the forest.
When he Joined her he said it was so late
that he would walk with her a portion of
the way toward her home. He told her
he was ready to go with her to some dis
tant part of the country and get married,
DC coon oc fha cprinp phA,,1J cot -, ,.,l
hat she must make her preparations to
go with him: This sho readily promised
to do, but while she was speaking foot
falls were heard, and Alfred turned away
and plunged into the gloom of the woods
to escape recognition. Marie fell at
once to chopping wood, but she was SO
hand badly with her Ratchet, and while
up with her, and in a harsh tone said:
"What are you doing here, girl, at
this hour?'
She glanced at him in alarm, for she
recognized his voice. 1t was Dick Thayer,
who had been the chief of her perse-
cutors on the day she was rescued by
Uncle Eben.
What are you here for, I say?" he
SontlHueu' .ercely. by ot. feter, L
think you are lying in wait for some
honest fellow who may chance to pass
TINS way after nlghttau. But I'll put a
STOP TO h a
WIN these words he sprang at her,
ana wrenchlng her Ratchet from her
hahd aimed a terrible blow at her.
She eluded it, and after a desperate
effort managed to escape, and fled into
the woods, pursued by Thayer. 1t was
dark and gloomy in among the trees, and
she paused a few yards from where she
had started, and her blood froze with
horror as she beheld two bright ewes
shining before her in the darkness. Dick
Thayer saw them, too, and paused for a
moment in dismay; and Marie, taking
advantage of this, slipped by him I'M
observed, and, regaining the path, fled
homeward.
Well might Dick Thayer pause and
utter an exclamation of dismay Stroirht
before him stood a large she wolf, With
her bright eyes glaring iercely at him
and her huge gray form standing ont
boldly amid the gloom. Dick was not a
coward, and in this case he saw that his
only safety lay in making a good, bold
fight for life. So he crashed the Ratchet
firmly and breathed a short a As
he did SO the animal uttered a savage
growl and sprang at his throat,
A sharp. short str1,oyl followed in
which DicP was soreIv pnt 10 - - dofon5
himself. AZ last, however he gaya tha
wolf a deem cut in the fore nav and
with a yell of bafied rage, the animal
turned and fed from him. leaving him a
little scratched and bruised, but in no.
wise badly hurt.
Now, as he had Gomez o s,,ddanIv unor
the wolf while in pursuit of the youno
Nagot girl, and as he was a firm believer
in the wehrwolf superstition. Dick
Thayer did not for a instant doubt that
the wolf he had fought was no other than
Marie in her lupine form.
When Dick, upon his return TO the