The moon had been hidden by the black clouds, but now it appeared above the pine trees which grew on top of a large rock. In the moonlight I saw a ring of wolves around us. The wolves had white teeth and red tongues, long legs and long untidy hair. They were a hundred times more terrible sitting there in silence than they were when they howled. I was almost paralysed by fear. It is only when a man comes face to face with such horrible things that he can truly understand what they mean.

All at once the wolves began to howl as though the moonlight had had some strange effect on them. The horses jumped about and went on to their back legs. They looked helplessly around and their eyes rolled in their heads. But they were surrounded by that living ring of terrible wolves on every side, and they had to stay in the ring. I called to the coachman to come to help us. I thought that our only chance was to try to drive the carriage out through the ring of wolves. To help the coachman to get near to us I shouted and hit the side of the carriage, hoping to make enough noise to scare the wolves, since that might give the coachman a chance of reaching us. The coachman did reach us though I do not know how he did it. Suddenly I heard him shout a command. I looked towards the sound, and saw him standing in the roadway.