"A brute of a hyena has killed a ram and two lambs. The dogs seized it. Franz shot it. It is dead and skinned. The pemmican isn't worth much, but we are all right. Love to all.
"Fritz.
"Woodlands, 15th instant."
"A true hunter's letter!" laughed I; "but what exciting news. When does the next post come in, Ernest?"
"To-night, I hope," said he, while his mother sighed, and doubted the value of such glimpses into the scenes of danger through which her sons were passing, declaring she would much rather wait and hear all about it when she had them safe home again.
Thus the winged letter-carriers kept us informed from day to day of the outline of adventures which were afterward more fully described.
On approaching the farm at Woodlands, the boys were startled by hearing, as they thought, human laughter, repeated again and again; while, to their astonishment, the oxen testified the great uneasiness, the dogs growled and drew close to their masters, and the ostrich fairly bolted with Jack into the rice swamp.
The laughter continued, and the beasts became unmanageable.
"Something is very far wrong!" cried Fritz. "I cannot leave the animals; but while I unharness them, do you, Franz, take the dogs, and advance cautiously to see what is the matter."
Without a moment's hesitation, Franz made his way among the bushes with his gun, closely followed by the dogs; until, through an opening in the thicket, he could see, at a distance of about forty paces, an enormous hyena, in the most wonderful state of excitement; dancing round a lamb just killed, and uttering, from time to time, the ghastly hysterical laughter which had pealed through the forest.