[This is a story of life in ancient Britain, when wolves roamed through the forests. Beric and Boduoc, two Britons, were in the forest that lay near their village, when they heard a cry.]
"What is that?" exclaimed Beric, as a distant cry came to their ears.
"I think it"s the voice of a woman," Boduoc said, "ormaybe it is one of the Spirits of Evil!"
"Nonsense, Boduoc! It was the cry of a woman; it came from ahead. Come along"; and he started to run.
"Stop, Beric, stop. I hear other sounds."
"So do I. Why, don"t you know the snarling of wolves whenyou hear it?"
Again the loud cry of distress came on the night air.
In a short time they stood at the edge of a little clearing by the side of the path. It was lighter here, and Beric could make out the outline of a rude hut and, as he thought, that of many dark figures moving round it. A fierce growling and snarling rose from around the hut, with once or twice a sharp yell of pain.
" There are half a dozen of them on the roof and a scoreor more round the hut. At present they haven"t winded us,for the air is in our faces."
Holding their spears in readiness for action, they ran forward. When thirty yards from the hut, Boduoc raised his voice in a wild yell, Beric adding his cry and then shouting, " Unbar your door, and stand by to close it as we enter."The door opened as Beric and his companion came up, and they rushed in and closed it after them. A fire burned on the hearth. A dead wolf lay on the ground, some children crouched in terror on a pile of rushes, and a woman stood with a spear in her hand.
"Thanks to our country"s gods that you have come!" she said. "A few minutes later, and all would have been over with me and my children. See, one has already made his way through the roof, and in half a dozen places they have scratched holes well-nigh large enough to pass through.""We heard your cry," Beric said, " and hastened forward at the top of our speed. Where is your husband?""He started this afternoon for Cardun. He and all the able-bodied men were ordered to assemble there to-night in readiness to begin the war against the wolves at daybreak.""They are coming again," Boduoc broke in. "I can hear their feet pattering on the dead leaves. Which shall we do- pile more wood on the fire, or let it go out altogether?""I don"t know, Boduoc; I think we shall do better if wehave light."
The woman at once gathered some of the pieces of wood that had fallen through as the wolves made the holes, and put them on the hearth, when they soon blazed up brightly. There was a sudden thump overhead, followed almost immediately by several others.
"They get up by the wood-pile," the woman said. "It is against that side of the hut, and reaches nearly up to the eaves."Drawn by W.S. Wemyss
The Fight in the Hut
There was a sharp yell of pain as Boduoc thrust his spear up through the hole in the roof. He had seen a pair of eyes, shining in the firelight, appear at the edge. At the samemoment there was a sound of scraping and scratching at some of the other holes.
The roof was constructed of rough poles laid at short distances apart, and above these were small branches on which was a sort of thatch of reeds and rushes. Standing close under one of the holes Beric could see nothing, but from the sound of the scratching he could tell from which side the wolf was at work enlarging it. He carefully thrust the point of his spear through the branches and gave a sudden lunge upwards. A fierce yell was heard, followed by the sound of a body rolling down the roof, and then a struggle accompanied by angry snarling and growling outside.
For hours the fight went on. Gradually the holes, in spite of the efforts of the defenders, were enlarged, and the position became more and more critical. At least twenty of the wolves were slain; but, as the attack was kept up as vigorously as at first, it was evident that fresh reinforcements had arrived.
"We cannot keep them out much longer, Beric. It seems to me that our only plan is to fire the hut, and then, each taking a child, to make a rush across to the trees and climb them. The sudden burst of fire will drive them back for a little, and we may make good our retreat to the trees."At this moment there was a sudden scuffle overhead,and the three defenders stood, spear in hand, ready to repel a fresh attack; but all was quiet; then a loud shout arose in the air.
"Thank the gods, here they are!" Boduoc said. They listened a moment, but all was still round the hut; then he threw the door open as a score of men with lighted torches came running towards it.
" Thanks for your aid, friends!" Beric said. "Never was a shout more welcome than yours. You were just in time, as you may see by looking at the roof."A few minutes later the party started on their return,and after three hours" walking they arrived at the village.
The huts of the people consisted of but a single room, with a hole in the roof by which the smoke of the fire in the centre made its way out. The doorway was generally closed by a wattle secured by a bar. When this was closed, light found its way into the room only through the chinks of the wattle and the hole in the roof. In the winter, for extra warmth, a skin was hung before the door. Piles of, hide served as seats by day and beds by night; there was no other furniture whatever in the rooms, save a few earthen cooking-pots.
Beric"s home, however, was better furnished. Across one end ran a sort of dais of beaten earth, raised a foot above the rest of the floor. This was thickly strewn with fresh rushes,and there were a rough table and benches. The walls of the apartment were hidden by skins, principally those of wolves. The fire-place was in the centre of the lower part of the hall, and arranged on a shelf against the wall were cooking-pots of iron and brass; while on a similar shelf on the wall above the dais were jugs and drinking vessels of gold. From the rafters hung hams of wild boar and swine, wild duck and fish, and other articles of food. His mother"s own room led from the back of the dais; that of Beric was next to it, while the followers and attendants stretched themselves on the floor of the hall.
Shouts of welcome saluted Beric as, with his party, he crossed the rough bridge over the stream and descended the slope to the village. Some fifteen hundred men were gathered here, all armed for the chase with spears, javelins, and long knives. Their hair fell over their necks, but their faces were shaved, with the exception of the moustache. Many of them were tattooed-a custom that at one time had been universal, but was now dying out among the more civilized. Most of them had their bodies stained a deep blue with woad-a plant largely grown for its dye.
Beric needed only a few minutes to satisfy his hunger. Then he went out and joined two or three other chiefs who had charge of the hunt. Almost every man had brought with him one or more large dogs trained in hunting wolfand boar, and the woods beyond the swamp rang with their deep barking. The men had already been told what to do. They went forward in parties of four, each group taking its post some fifty yards from the next. A horn was sounded in the centre, where the leaders had posted themselves, and the signal was repeated at points along the line. Then, with shouts from the men and fierce barkings by the dogs, the whole line moved forward.
No wolves were seen until the party neared the point where the two rivers unite, by which time the groups were within a few paces of each other. Then among the trees in front of them a fierce snarling and yelping was heard. The dogs, which had hitherto been kept in hand, were now loosed, and with a shout the men rushed forward both on the bluffs in the centre and along the low land skirting the rivers on either side. Soon the wolves came pouring down from the wooded bluff, and engaged in a fierce fight with the dogs. As the men ran up, a few of the wolves in despair charged them and tried to break through, but the great majority, cowed by the noise and fierce attack, crouched to the earth and received their deathblow without resisting. Some took to the water, but coracles had been sent down to the point the evening before, and the wolves were speedily slain.
So for a fortnight the war went on. Only such deer andboar as were required for food were killed; but the wolves were slain without mercy, and at the end of the operations that portion of the country was completely cleared of these savage beasts, for those that had escaped the beating parties had fled far away through the forest to quieter quarters.
Altogether over four thousand wolves were slain, and all those whose coats were in good condition were skinned, the skins being valuable for linings to the huts, for beds, and for winter mantles.
From Beric the Briton, by G. A. Henty
Author.-George Alfred Henty (1832-1902), writer of adventure and historical stories, was born in England near Cambridge. He served in the Crimean war as a soldier and later as a war correspondent. Thereafter he served elsewhere in Europe as a correspondent in almost every European war between 1859 and 1876. When wars were not offering he did other journalistic work in many parts of the world. At the age of 45 he began to write the books, at the rate of three or four a year, that were to make him famous. With Clive in lndia, The Lion of the North, Redskin and Cowboy-these give an idea of the range he covered.
General Notes.-What period of history does the story describe?
What do you learn from the story about the people of the time-their looks, their dress, their houses, their weapons, etc.?