The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1894-11-23

eemed to grow deeper and deeper as I
lie advanced.
This thought-in itself anything
nut "a pleasant One-was quickly fol-
owed by another even more disquiet- !
ng. Out Of the cold black depths of
he forest rose suddenly a hollow, long
lrawn, dismal sound, which Vania
lad heard too often not to know it at
'nce for the cry of wolf, or rather of
everal wolves together.
The boy started to run, for with
such enemies on his trail no time was
10 be lost. But any one who has tried
running through knee-deep snow, espe-
cially with the stlling cold of II Rus
sian winter taking away ones breath
at every step, knows what fearfully
exhausting work it is. He had barely
advanced fifty yards when the cry
broke out again, sharper, iercer,
nearer than before. The monsters had |
scented their prey and were in full
chase of him!
Vania looked around him as he ran,
with a numb horror such as he had
never felt before tightening around
his bold heart. He was now in the
very worst place of ala wide clear
ing in the forest, where all the trees
had been felled except few. If the
wolves caught him there he was lost,
and their yells seemed to come nearer
and nearer every moment.
All at once dark shadwy mass
loomed up right in front of him, plain
even amid the blackness against
| the ghOstly white of the snow.
lie knew at once that it must be the
huge pile of split logs that he had
noticed in passing that afternoon, and
he sprang up it like a wildcat but he
had barely reached the top when the
gloom around him was alive with the
whsking tails and gnashing teeth ant
fiery greenish-yellow eyes.
The next moment the wolves wer,
leaping up at him on every side; bu
luckily the wood pile was too high fo
them to reach the top at one bound
and Vania, snatching upa heavy piec
of wood, struck 50 fiercely among tn
scrambling monsters that at ever
stroke a wolf dropped back into tn
snow, bowling with pain, with
crushed jaw or broken head
The yells of the wild beasts and tn
shouts of Vania himself made such
din amid the dead silence of the lionel.
forest that the boy began to hope tina
some one might hear and come to hi
assistance. But the help for which
he was looking seemed likely to com
| too late, for the constant scrambline
of the wolves up the sides of the woo'
| pile, and Vania's violent leaps to an(
fro on the it's top had begun to loosel
the logs, which were already tOtterinI
and soon must roll down altogether
hinging the poor lad right among tn
blood-thirsty jaws that were gnashin
for him below.
But just when all seemed over al
unlooked-for way Of escape suddcnl
presented itself. A pale gleam 0
moonlight, breaking through tn
stormclouds, showed our hero singl
tree standing behind the wood pill
and only a few feet away from it
Could he make spring and clutch on
of the branches, and so swing himscl
, up into the tree, he would be safe.
Gathering all his strength for tn
perlous leap-for he knew that if tn
first attempt failed he would neve
live to repeat 1.-THE daring lad she
out into the empty air. The wolve
yelled and leaped up at him, but
was too late. Vauia had siezed th
nearest bough. The slender limb ben
and cracked terribly beneath Il
: weight, but it did not give way, an
= in another moment he was safe anon
the higher branches, just as the who
I, pile of logs came crashing down a
once, burying three or four of I'll
= wolves beneath it.
But now that he was sitting on tn
uneasy perch, cramped and no longt
- kept warm by the violent exertion
beating off the wolves, the piercin
cold of the wintry night began to te
:, upon him in earnest. Vania was
= true Russian, and could bear witho'
= Ainching a degree of cold that wou
. have killed a native Of a warmer clin
,' : outright; but even he now began
% feel that lie could not stand muC
y more of this, and must either drt
:. " down among the wolves or be froz'
- where he sat.
A fash, a crack, sharp cry fro
;, thc'nearest wolf, lusty shout OF sc
y eral voices at once and a broad gla
y y, Of light through the gloom scared t
;" cowardly beasts into general sea
per. The last Of them had hare
= y vanished into the thicket VIII
y - Vania's father, three or four 9th
: peasants with axes and pine torch
, and the village watchman with |
!, gun, came just in time to catch t
- half.frozen boy "a he fell among the
ii OF 210, 1868 men in the British arr
In l43,l29 belong to the church Of III
~ land, 1878 are Roman Catholics,
| 4 100 WncinuA