over him from head to foot. "Maybe it is the howling of
wolves. It is difficult to distinguish."

"What wolves? There are no wolves in the woods now;
they have all gone to the villages, where there are plenty
of dead men."

"Awful times!" answered the knight, "when wolves live
in the villages, and people go howling through the woods!
Oh, God, God!"

After a while silence came again. There was nothing to
be heard but the sounds usual among the tops of the pine-
trees. Soon, however, those distant sounds rose and be-
came more distinct.

"Oh!" said one of the foresters, suddenly, "it seems
as though some large body of men were over there. You
stay here; move on slowly. I will go with my companions
to see who they are."

"Go!" said Skshetuski. "We will wait here."

The foresters disappeared. They did not return for
about an hour. Skshetuski was beginning to be impatient,
and indeed to think of treason, when suddenly some one
sprang out of the darkness.

"They are there!" said he, approaching the lieutenant.

"Who?"

"A peasant band."

"Many of them?"

"About two hundred. It is not clear what is best to do,
for they are in a pass through which our road lies. They
have a fire, though the light is not to be seen, for it is
below. They have no guards, and can be approached
within arrow-shot."

"All right!" said Skshetuski; and turning to the
Cossacks, he began to give orders to the two principal
ones.

The party moved on briskly, but so quietly that only the
cracking of twigs could betray their march. Stirrup did
not touch stirrup; there was no clattering of sabres. The
horses, accustomed to surprises and attacks, went with a
wolf's gait, without snorting or neighing. Arriving at the
place where the road made a sudden turn, the Cossacks saw
at once, from a distance, fires and the indefinite outlines of
people. Here Skshetuski divided his men into three parties,
-one remained on the spot; the second went by the edge
along the ravine, so as to close the opposite exit; the third
dismounted, and crawling along on hands and feet, placed