"Well, do it!" cried the huntsman, whose features were becoming disturbed
with anger.

"No," replied the baron, "I am not responsible to you, and you shall not
come here!"

"That's what we shall soon see!" said Sperver, drawing nearer to the
cave.

The young man drew his hunting-knife. Perceiving this menacing action, I
was about to dart between them, but happily the hound which I was holding
by his collar slipped from me with a violent shock and threw me on the
ground. I thought the baron would be lost, but at that instant a wild
shriek rose from the dark bottom of the cavern, and as I rose to my feet
I saw the old woman standing erect before the fire, her tattered garments
hanging loosely about her, her grey and tangled locks floating wildly in
the wind; she flung her bony arms in the air and uttered prolonged
piercing howls like the cry of agony of the hungry wolf in the long cold
nights of winter when famine is gnawing his entrails.

Never in my life have I seen a more fearful apparition. Sperver,
motionless, his eyes riveted on the fearful object before him, and his
mouth open with astonishment, stood as if rooted to the earth. But the
powerful dog, surprised himself at this unexpected sight, stood still for
a moment; then with a bend of his bristling back in preparation for a
mighty leap, he made a rush with a deep, impatient growl which made me
tremble. The platform before the cave was about eight or nine feet from
the level where we stood, or he would have reached it at a single bound.
I can yet hear him clearing a way through the snowy brambles, the baron