Page 224 - A Jacobite Exile

round the hut in search of offal, or bones thrown out. They were now
obliged to hang their supply of meat, by ropes, from boughs at some

distance from the ground, by which means they were enabled to prevent the
bears getting at it.

They no longer dared to venture far from the hut, for large packs of wolves
ranged through the forest, and, driven by hunger, even entered villages,

where they attacked and killed many women and children, made their
entrance into sheds, and tore dogs, horses, and cattle to pieces, and became

at last so dangerous that the villagers were obliged to keep great fires
burning in the streets at night, to frighten them away. Several times the
occupants of the hut were awakened by the whining and snarling of wolves

outside. But the walls and roof were alike built of solid timber, and a
roughly-made door of thick wood was now fastened, every night, against

the opening, and so stoutly supported by beams behind it as to defy assault.
Beyond, therefore, a passing grumble at being awakened by the noise, the
men gave themselves no trouble as to the savage animals outside.

"If these brutes grow much bolder," the captain said one day, "we shall be

prisoners here altogether. They must have come down from the great forest
that extends over a large part of Russia. The villages are scarce there, and
the peasants take good care to keep all their beasts in shelter, so no doubt

they are able to pick up more at the edge of the forest here."

"How far are we from the Russian frontier?"

"I do not think anyone could tell you. For aught I know, we may be in

Russia now. These forests are a sort of no man's land, and I don't suppose
any line of frontier has ever been marked. It is Russia to the east of this

forest, some thirty miles away, and it is Poland to the west of it. The forest
is no good to anyone except the charcoal burners. I have met both Russians
and Poles in the wood, and, as there is plenty of room for all--ay, and

would be were there a thousand to every one now working in it--they are on
friendly terms with each other, especially as the two nations are, at present,

allied against Sweden."