228 A JACOBITE EXILE

night he found the hut often uncomfortably warm, sleeping
as they all did in the same attire in which they went out.
In February the weather became excessively severe, more
so, the peasants and charcoal-burners, they occasionally
met with, declared, than they ever remembered. ‘The
wild animals became tamer, and in the morning when
they went out they frequently found tracks of bears that
had been prowling 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 out-
side.

“Tf 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.”