Fifty Famous People: A Book of Short Stories. Baldwin James

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СКАЧАТЬ in the country not far from a great forest. Often, when he was a little lad, he took long walks among the trees with his mother.

      "Mother," he would say, "do not be afraid. I am with you, and I will not let anything hurt you."

      One day word came that a savage wolf had been seen in the forest. Men said that it was a very large wolf and that it had killed some of the farmers' sheep.

      "How I should like to meet that wolf," said little Gilbert.

      He was only seven years old, but now all his thoughts were about the savage beast that was in the forest.

      "Shall we take a walk this morning?" asked his mother.

      "Oh, yes!" said Gilbert. "Perhaps we may see that wolf among the trees.

      But don't be afraid."

      His mother smiled, for she felt quite sure that there was no danger.

      They did not go far into the woods. The mother sat down in the shade of a tree and began to read in a new book which she had bought the day before. The boy played on the grass near by.

      The sun was warm. The bees were buzzing among the flowers. The small birds were singing softly. Gilbert looked up from his play and saw that his mother was very deeply interested in her book.

      "Now for the wolf!" he said to himself.

      He walked quickly, but very quietly, down the pathway into the darker woods. He looked eagerly around, but saw only a squirrel frisking among the trees and a rabbit hopping across the road.

      Soon he came to a wilder place. There the bushes were very close together and the pathway came to an end. He pushed the bushes aside and went a little farther. How still everything was!

      He could see a green open space just beyond; and then the woods seemed to be thicker and darker. "This is just the place for that wolf," he thought.

      Then, all at once, he heard footsteps. Something was pushing its way through the bushes. It was coming toward him.

      "It's the wolf, I'm sure! It will not see me till it comes very near. Then I will jump out and throw my arms around its neck and choke it to death."

      The animal was coming nearer. He could hear its footsteps. He could hear its heavy breathing. He stood very still and waited.

      "It will try to bite me," he thought. "Perhaps it will scratch me with its sharp claws. But I will be brave. I will not cry out. I will choke it with my strong arms. Then I will drag it out of the bushes and call mamma to come and see it."

      The beast was very close to him now. He could see its shadow as he peeped out through the clusters of leaves. His breath came fast. He planted his feet firmly and made ready to spring.

      "How proud mamma will be of her brave boy!"

      Ah! there was the wolf! He saw its shaggy head and big round eyes. He leaped from his hiding place and clasped it round its neck.

      It did not try to bite or scratch. It did not even growl. But it jumped quickly forward and threw Gilbert upon the ground. Then it ran out into the open space and stopped to gaze at him.

      Gilbert was soon on his feet again. He was not hurt at all. He looked at the beast, and—what do you think it was?

      It was not a wolf. It was only a pet calf that had come there to browse among the bushes.

      The boy felt very much ashamed. He hurried back to the pathway, and then ran to his mother. Tears were in his eyes; but he tried to look brave. "O Gilbert, where have you been?" said his mother.

      Then he told her all that had happened. His lips quivered and he began to cry.

      "Never mind, my dear," said his mother. "You were very brave, and it is lucky that the wolf was not there. You faced what you thought was a great danger, and you were not afraid. You are my hero."

      When the American people were fighting to free themselves from the rule of the king of England, the Marquis de Lafayette helped them with men and money. He was the friend of Washington. His name is remembered in our country as that of a brave and noble man.

      ANOTHER WOLF STORY

      I

      "WOLF! Wolf! Wolf!"

      Three farmers were walking across a field and looking eagerly for tracks in the soft ground. One carried a gun, one had a pitchfork, and the third had an ax.

      "Wolf! Wolf! Wolf!" they cried, as they met another farmer coming over the hill.

      "Where? where?" he asked.

      "We don't know," was the answer, "but we saw her tracks down there by the brook. It's the same old wolf that has been skulking around here all winter."

      "She killed three of my lambs last night," said the one whose name was David Brown.

      "She's killed as many as twenty since the winter began," said Thomas Tanner.

      "How do you know that it is only one beast that does all this mischief?" asked the fourth farmer, whose name was Israel Putnam.

      "Because the tracks are always the same," answered David Brown. "They show that three toes have been lost from the left forefoot."

      "She's been caught in a trap some time, I guess," said Putnam.

      "Samuel Stark saw her the other morning," said Tanner. "He says she was a monster; and she was running straight toward the hills with a little lamb in her mouth. They say she has a family of young wolves up there; and that is why she kills so many lambs."

      "Here are the tracks again," said Putnam.

      They could be seen very plainly, for here the ground was quite muddy. The four men followed them for some distance, and then lost them on the hillside.

      "Let us call the neighbors together and have a grand wolf hunt to- morrow," said Putnam. "We must put an end to this killing of lambs."

      All the other men agreed to this, and they parted.

      II

      The next day twenty men and boys came together for the grand wolf hunt.

      They tracked the beast to the mouth of a cave, far up on the hills.

      They shouted and threw stones into the cave. But the wolf was too wise to show herself. She lay hidden among some rocks, and nothing could make her stir.

      "I will fetch her out," said Israel Putnam.

      The opening to the cave was only a narrow hole between two rocks. Putnam stooped down and looked in. It was very dark there, and he could not see anything.

      Then he tied a rope around his waist and said to his friends, "Take hold of the other end, boys. When I jerk it, then pull me out as quickly as you can." He got down on his hands and knees and crawled into the cave. He crawled very slowly and carefully.

      At last he saw something in the darkness that looked like two balls of fire. He knew that these were the eyes of the wolf. The wolf gave a low growl and made ready to meet him.

      Putnam СКАЧАТЬ