Page:Tales of a Voyager to the Arctic Ocean, vol. 3 (1826).djvu/319

 instead of summoning the troop to give the beast chase, each rode separately in search of the cottage, where they met, and quarrelled for the first time; and so bitter was their enmity afterwards, that it would have been a pleasure to either of them to have run the other through with a boar spear.

“Meantime the wild monster committed great ravages throughout the surrounding country, and it became unsafe for men unarmed, and women and children, to pass from one village to the other; so that there was a general alarm spread round about, for a great distance. The wolf-hunters made many attempts to destroy it, but in vain; for, though it did not keep out of the way by day, yet it was so swift, and so artful in eluding pursuit, that all their endeavours were fruitless. Even Wolfgang and Hendrick could gain no advantage over their companions, except getting a little closer to the beast than the rest. At length, the lords of three villages, which this animal infested, fancying that there might be some want of energy in the attempts to destroy it, or, perhaps, a little fear, offered a reward of a piece of land to the man who should produce its head, ‘to belong to him and his heirs