TREED BY WOLVES 229

“How far are we from the Russian frontier?”

“JT 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, espe-
cially as the two nations are at present allied against
Sweden.”

In spite of the wolves Charlie continued his walks
in the forest, accompanied always by Stanislas. Both
carried axes and pistols, and although Charlie had heard
many tales of solitary men and even of vehicles being
attacked by the wolves in broad daylight, he believed
that most of the stories were exaggerations, and that the
chances of two men being attacked in daylight were small
indeed.

He had found that the track by which the cart had
brought the stores was a good deal used, the snow being
swept away or levelled by the runners of sledges, either
those of peasants who came into the forest for wood or
charcoal, or of travellers journeying between Russia and
Poland. He generally selected this road for his walk, both
because it was less laborious than wading through the
untrodden snow, and because there was here no fear of
losing his way, and he was spared the incessant watchfulness
for signs that was necessary among the trees. At first he
had frequently met peasants’ carts on the road, but since
the cold became more severe and the wolves more numerous
and daring, he no longer encountered them; he had indeed
heard from some of the last he saw that they should come