and yelping was heard. The dogs, which had hitherto been kept
in hand, were now loosed, and with a shout the men rushed forward
both on the bluffs in the centre and along the low land skirting
the rivers on either side. Soon the wolves came pouring down from
the wooded bluff, and engaged in a furious conflict with the dogs.
As the men ran up, a few of the wolves in their desperation charged
them and endeavoured to break through, but the great majority,
cowed by the clamour and fierce assault, crouched to the earth and
received their death blow unresistingly. Some took to the water,
but coracles had been sent down to the point the evening before,
and they were speedily slain. Altogether some four or five hundred
wolves were killed.

It was now late in the afternoon. Wood was collected and great
fires made, and the boars' flesh was soon roasting over them. At
daybreak they started again, and retracing their steps formed a
fresh line at the point where the last beat had begun, this time
beating in a great semicircle and driving the wolves down on to
the Stour. So for a fortnight the war went on. Only such deer and
boar as were required for food were killed; but the wolves were
slain without mercy, and at the end of the operations that portion
of the country was completely cleared of these savage beasts, for
those who had escaped the beating parties had fled far away through
the forest to more quiet quarters.

The work had been laborious; for each day some forty miles had been
traversed in the march from the last place of slaughter to the next
beat, and in the subsequent proceedings. It had, however, been full
of interest and excitement, especially during the second week, when,
having cleared all the country in the neighbourhood of the rivers,