The Van Buren press., 1898-12-17
Still, it was likely to prove surest .nd
speediest in the end.

carefully for about three hours. or. in
other words. 1t was then about ten
o'clock when the trails led toward 3
narrow cluster Of trees. Up 10 tbs we
made haste and hurried through the
opening beyond. both Of US evidently
being moved with the same impression
that the farther side would solve the
mystery of the boys absence.
And ii did.
"A couple of hundred yards cut in
the plain we saw a solitary poplar. con-
siderahly larger than the others there
about The first thing that drew our
attention to it were the two black OBJ
jects on its largest limbs. These OBJ
Jects we speedily made ont to be the
missing children.
But why were they there9 And.
casting our eyes about for the cause, it
was at once made manifest By seeing
three large, gaunt wolves sitting at
the base Of the tree, watching the
forms above.
we both simultaneously looked at
the priming Of our rifles. and. although
the distance from where we stood was
considerable fer the muzzle-loadiLg o
guns Of those days, yet We had 10 op-
tion but TO try, as there was no other
point of eoneealment between Us and
the tree bu: the place We were III.
Jerome selected an immense gray
fellow as his mark, and pickcd & out one
Of the others-a pure white, with black
cars and muzzle. We each took careful
aim and fred together at the word
three.
When the smoke cleared away
from our guns we had tie satisfaction
of seeing both animals rolling and
swapping their great jaws in the death
agony, and the third disappearing in
full retreat over distant knoll
"Reloading our guns as we went. we
hurried on with what speed we could
toward the tree. the fathers heart 10
jerome being stirred TO lis depths by
the awful dread he felt at seeing those
motionless figures. which made no per
eeptible move al our firing or approach
The younger boy, Mark, was tn
uppermost, and tied to the tree trunh
with his brothers belt. and, better to
secure his safety. his brother sat astride
of limb lower down aud clasped the
legs of Mark and the trunk of the pop
lar with the same embrace.
AT first, as we gazed up at the poor
children, we thought they were botL
dead, but when I. the lighter man auu
the least overcome, aseended the tree
| found the younger long since past a
assistance, for his body was frozel
hard. But Williams still gave out SOM
warmth, but quite overcome with ths
stupor that preeedes death by exposur
to excessive cold.
Fortunately, before leaving the
house. | had showed into my pocket
a small flask of the very puresi
Franch brandy, some OF a small
quantity given to me by the cap
tain of a Jersey vessel that had Wis
lied the coast the previous summer As
best could l forced portion of this
between his clenched teeth. which
caused him to cough, and at the same
time he opened his eyes for moment
in dazed way.
Sufficient of the liquor had found
it's way down his throat 10 create gen
tie glow through his body, and after
moment or two he opened his eyes and
cndeayored to speak, glancing up IN a
mute and appealing way toward his
brother.
His fingers were frozen, interlaceo
on the opposite side of the tree but as
they were past all chance Of being
saved. and especially as they gave him
no pain, wrenched them apart without
hesitation and lowered the boy TO his
father.
"As we had all we could do TO carry
the frozen boy to the house before night
set in. we concluded to leave the corpse
of little Mark secured to the tree as he
Was. There, at all events, he would be
free from any other wolves that might
be in the vicinity.
"While old Jerome built a fire to
make warm drink for the boy William,
I ripped off the skins of the dead beasts,
as they were both beautifully furred
and of uncommon size. These i made
ND in ball and hung them up for safety
from destruction until we came back
the following day.
"A trifle more of the brandy and some
warm cruel brought William back TO
full consciousness, and we started for
the house, bearing him between US on
an improvised litter.
"What night we passed, with the
wailings and lamentations OF the poor
mother at the loss of one son and the
Gripping Of the otherl
Having been an assistant surgeon IN
my younger days, found on examlna-
ton of williams frozen extremlties
hat all his toes on both feet had TO
come off, and all the fingers Of the left
hand. But managed TO save the thumb
and index finger on the right one, the
possession of which has enabled him to
do many things that the want Of them
would have prevented him from accom-
plishing.
"A few days after l had performed
the operation on his hands and feet
(which was quite painless TO the boy.
be-told us that the wolves had swocped
down on them all at once from the crest
CT a neighboring knoll. and in their
haste to scramble up the tree their gun
was dropped, and the vicious beasts sat
down on their launches TO deliberately
siarve them out"
In a thoughtful way De Hertle arose