Page:A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields.djvu/91

More closely to regard the sand we trod,
For sand it was at present. Soon he rose
And in a low voice said, that thrilled through all—
For never had he been in error yet
On such a subject—that the recent marks
Announced the steady gait and powerful claws
Of two wolves full-grown, followed by two cubs.
We then got ready our broad-bladed knives
And polished guns, and striving to conceal
The flashing lustre of the steel that shone
Too white in the surrounding darkness, moved
Step after step, pushing the boughs aside
That stretched across our path. Three stopped,—and then
While straining to find out what they had seen,
At once I saw two blazing eyes like coals,
And then four forms, agile, and lithe, and gaunt,
That danced in the faint moonlight on the furze
Like joyous greyhounds, such as oft are seen
Clamorous around their master from the chase
At eve returned. Similar was their form
And similar the dance; only the wolves
And cubs gambolled in silence, as though they felt
The neighbourhood of man, their mortal foe.
The male stood on his feet, and farther on,
Against a tree the female wolf reclined—
A marble image, like the one adored
By the old Romans as the heaven-sent nurse
Of Romulus and Remus, demi-gods,
Who from her shaggy side drew nourishment.
A slight noise, and the male wolf was alert,
His hooked nails buried in the sand, he looked
Intent around, then judged himself for lost.
He was surprised, and all retreat cut off!