While the horses moved swiftly danger from wolves was not imminent; but carelessness or some mishap to a trace or a wheel had been the cause of more than one tragedy.
Therefore it was not remarkable that the drivers of our party breathed a sigh of relief when the top of the last steep hill had been reached.

The girls were quiet, and tired out and cold they pressed close to one another; the men were silent and watchful.
When they were half way home and had just reached the outskirts of the Black Forest the keen ear of Wetzel caught the cry of a wolf.

It came from the south and sounded so faint that Wetzel believed at first that he had been mistaken.

A few moments passed in which the hunter turned his ear to the south.

He had about made up his mind that he had only imagined he had heard something when the unmistakable yelp of a wolf came down on the wind.