At last there (come) a time when the driver (go) further afield than he had yet gone, and during his absence, the horses (begin) to tremble worse than ever and to snort and scream with fright. I could not see any cause for it, for the howling of the wolves had ceased altogether. But just then the moon, sailing through the black clouds, (appear) behind the jagged crest of a beetling, pine-clad rock, and by its light I (see) around us a ring of wolves, with white teeth and lolling red tongues, with long, sinewy limbs and shaggy hair. They were a hundred times more terrible in the grim silence which (hold) them than even when they (howl). For myself, I (feel) a sort of paralysis of fear. It is only when a man feels himself face to face with such horrors that he can understand their true import.

All at once the wolves (begin) to howl as though the moonlight had had some peculiar effect on them. The horses (jump) about and reared, and (look) helplessly round with eyes that (roll) in a way painful to see. But the living ring of terror (encompass) them on every side, and they (have) perforce to remain within it. I (call) to the coachman to come, for it (seem) to me that our only chance was to try to break out through the ring and to aid his approach, I (shout) and (beat) the side of the coach, hoping by the noise to scare the wolves from the side, so as to give him a chance of reaching the trap. How he (come) there, I know not, but I (hear) his voice raised in a tone of imperious command, and looking towards the sound, (saw) him stand in the roadway. As he (sweep) his long arms, as though brushing aside some impalpable obstacle, the wolves (fall) back and back further still. Just then a heavy cloud (pass) across the face of the moon, so that we were again in darkness.

When I could see again the driver was climbing into the coach, and the wolves (disappear). This was all so strange and uncanny that a dreadful fear (come) upon me, and I was afraid to speak or move. The time (seem) interminable as we (sweep) on our way, now in almost complete darkness, for the rolling clouds (obscure) the moon.


We (keep) on ascending, with occasional periods of quick descent, but in the main always ascending. Suddenly, I (become) conscious of the fact that the driver was in the act of pulling up the horses in the courtyard of a vast ruined castle, from whose tall black windows (came) no ray of light, and whose broken battlements (show) a jagged line against the sky.