Part 27 (1/2)

said he.

”I bade them leave off wailing, and hasten to clamber up into a willow-tree, whither the monsters could not follow us.

”It was an old pollard willow, the branches of which were cut off every year, so that only the crown of it remained, surrounded by young shoots.

I, who had never learnt the art of tree-climbing, was hoisted up by the gipsies first of all, and then they hastily scrambled up after me.

”When we had got to the top of the tree we discovered that in the middle of it was a large hole--the whole inside of the tree was hollow, and could contain a man.

”'Leader,' said the contra-ba.s.s, 'your loss would be most serious, creep down into that hole.' I took him at his word, and glided down from the crown of the tree into the deep hollow trunk. First of all, however, I tied my long cotton neckerchief to a little branch, that I might be able to hoist myself up again in case of need, for the hole in the willow went right down to its very roots. At the side of the tree, too, close to an old branch, there was an orifice as large as one's fist, through which one could look as through an attic window.

”The five wolves were not long in arriving.

”They did not come quite near at first, but reconnoitred. Whenever one of them sneaked up a little nearer, the clarinet-player aimed at it with his instrument, which the wolf took for a musket. Then the beast would back a little and scratch up the snow with his hind legs. They say the creature is wont to do this when he sees a man stand on the defensive; he tries to blind him with snow.

”When, however, the wolves at last discovered that we had no fire-arms, they sent up the ugliest howls, and began the siege of the willow. They took tremendous leaps in the air to reach the crown of the tree, but it was too high for them.

”Then it occurred to the gipsies that they had often heard that wolves had a strong penchant for music, and they began giving them a clarinet and fiddle concert.

”It is true that the nasty brutes left off the siege, sat round the willow, and began to howl in concert with the music, at the same time raising their horrid jaws towards the moon, and las.h.i.+ng their sides with their ragged brush-like tails; and for a short time I was quite amused at the scene. But suddenly our double danger occurred to my mind.

”'Hey! gipsies. Stop, I say! Is the devil in you? Your music will bring the pickets of the Croats upon us, and they will flay us alive.'

”At this they stopped their music.

”This appeared to make the wolves still more savage, and now they tried a fresh stratagem.

”They had found out that the willow leaned a little to one side, and rus.h.i.+ng at it from a little distance, they attempted to scale the sloping side of the tree. This manuvre was likely to have succeeded. It was then that I saw what a powerful beast the wolf really is, and how much more cunning than any species of dog. Scrambling up at full tilt, they managed to reach the crown of the willow, but there the brave contra-ba.s.s was awaiting them, and gave them such a kick on the snout with his iron-heeled boots that the attacking beasts fell head over heels backwards.

”This they repeated ten or twelve times.

”And there was this remarkable circ.u.mstance about it, that every time an attacking wolf was prostrated by a kick from the gipsy, the others rushed upon him as he fell, and worried him as if to punish him for his failure.

”Suddenly they left off, and went and sat down in a heap just in front of my window. Their tongues lolled out of their panting mouths; their hot, b.e.s.t.i.a.l breath rose into the cold air before me. They appeared to be taking counsel together. The biggest of them seemed to be their leader. If one of the younger ones yelped too much, he would snap at his neck as if to say 'shut up!'

”At last they appeared to have hatched their stratagem. The whole lot of them got up and shuffled farther off, squinting over their shoulders all the time towards the willow-tree.

”My gipsies fancied they were saved.

”'You shall have no roast gipsy this time!' bawled the clarinet-player after them derisively from his sure stronghold, as he fancied it.

”All at once the wolves returned and stormed onwards like race-horses, each one being about a wolf's tail ahead of the other.

”The first of them rushed straight up the tree, and while the contra-ba.s.s was kicking him in the head, the second wolf leaped across the first wolf's back and seized the man's leg.

”I heard a despairing shriek:

”'Don't let me go, comrade!'

”The second musician tried to free his down-falling friend from the jaws of the wild beast, and in doing so lost his balance, and the pair of them fell down from the tree.

”What happened after that is more than I can tell you. It is enough that I should have had to live through that mortal struggle of the two luckless victims with those filthy brutes. How many times have I not dreamt it all over again! I believe that even if I had committed all the seven deadly sins, I should have more than expiated them all in that awful hour. I hid my face in the crumbling rottenness of the hollow tree, that I might hear and see nothing. It seemed an eternity to me while the b.e.s.t.i.a.l howling lasted which the wolves made as they shared together their accursed banquet in my very presence.