“Bang! The noise seemed to deafen me. The smoke filled the cave.
“I gave a signal to my neighbors to draw me out. I listened at the mouth of the cave. All was silent. The smoke must have found vent. I went into the cave again.
“It was silent.
“I found the body of the wolf. It was stiff and was growing cold. I took hold of her ears and gave a signal to those outside to draw me out.
“As I was drawn from the mouth of the cave I dragged the wolf after me.
“Then my friends set up a great shout. My eyes had met those of the she-wolf but once, then there was living fire in them, terrible but pitiful. Hark—what is that?”
There was a sound of horses’ feet.
“The Governor is coming,” said one of the taverners.
Israel Putnam ran out to meet him, and spoke to him a few words.
“Let us go to the war office at once, and shut the door and be by ourselves,” said the Governor.