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 his fellow passenger were summarily dispatched, their bodies and the stage plundered, and, undoing the fastenings, the desperadoes rode off with the horses. All this occurred in less time than is taken in recounting the awful deed.

Jack waited for a full quarter of an hour before he dared approach the stage. Only too well had the desperadoes done their work even in the darkness. An overpowering sense of dread came over him as he realized that he was the only remaining passenger and on a lonely plain, infested with wolves. Even now they were scenting blood, and their howls were growing nearer. One thing was certain, he must get away from this spot immediately, but where to? The darkness was so intense that he could not see two feet before him. But oh, kind Providence! in wandering about he stumbled against a tree and none too soon for as a long-drawn howl announced their approach, and the wolves pounced upon the bodies of his companions, snarling viciously as they tore them limb from limb, Jack