tribe to assemble by tomorrow morning to make war against them.
The people in the farms and villages are afraid to stay out after
nightfall. No man with arms in his hands fears a wolf, or even two
or three of them, in the daytime; but when they are in packs they
are formidable assailants, even to a strong party. Things are
getting as bad now as they were twenty years ago. My father has
told me that during one hard winter they destroyed full half our
herds, and that hundreds of people were devoured by them. They had
to erect stockades round the villages and drive in all the cattle,
and half the men kept guard by turns, keeping great fires alight
to frighten them away. When we have cleared the land of those two
legged wolves the Romans, we shall have to make a general war upon
them, for truly they are becoming a perfect scourge to the land.
It is not like the wild boar, of which there might with advantage
be more, for they do but little harm, getting their food for the
most part in the woods, and furnishing us with good eating as well
as good sport. But the wolves give us nothing in return, and save
for the sport no one would trouble to hunt them; and it is only by
a general order for their destruction, or by the offer of a reward
for their heads, that we shall get rid of them."

"Well, let us press on, Boduoc. I would not that anything should
occur to prevent us starting with the rest in the morning."

"We are walking a good pace now," Boduoc said, "and shall gain but
little by going faster. One cannot run for six hours; and besides
it is as much as we can do to walk fast in the dark. Did we try
to run we should like enough fall over a stump or root, and maybe
not arrive there even though the wolves stopped us not."