There was nothing to do now, and he sat down on the branch, and burst
into tears over the fate of his comrades. When he looked up again all
was quiet. The fierce pack had devoured not only his comrades, but
their own fallen companions, and now sat in a circle with their red
tongues hanging out and their eyes fixed upon him. As the fire
gradually died out their forms disappeared; but he could hear their
quick breathing, and knew that they were still on the watch.
Malchus climbed the tree until he reached a fork, where he could sit at
ease, and there waited for morning, when he hoped that his foes would
disappear. But as the gray light dawned, he saw them still on the
watch; nor, as the dawn brightened into day, did they show any signs of
moving.
When he saw they had no intention of leaving the place, Malchus began to
consider seriously what he had best do. He might still be, for aught he
knew, miles away from the camp, and his friends there would have no
means of knowing the position in which he was placed. They would no
doubt send out all the soldiers in search of the party; but in that
broken wilderness of forest and mountain, it was the merest chance
whether they would find the spot where he was prisoner.
Still, it appeared to him that this was the only possibility of his
rescue. The trees grew thickly together, and he could easily have
climbed from that in which he was stationed to the next, and might so
have made his way for some distance; but as the wolves were watching
him, and could see as well by night as by day, there was no advantage in
shifting his position.
The day passed slowly. The wolves had for the most part withdrawn from
beneath the tree, but a few kept their station there steadily. Malchus
knew that the rest were lying beneath the bushes not far off, for he
could hear their frequent snarling, and sometimes a gray head was thrust
out, and a pair of eager eyes looked hungrily towards him.
From time to time Malchus listened breathlessly in hopes of hearing the
distant shouts of his comrades; but all was still in the forest, and he
felt sure that the wolves would hear anyone approaching before he
should.
Once or twice, indeed, he fancied by their pricked ears and attitude of
attention that they could hear sounds inaudible to him; but the alarm,
if such it was, soon passed away, and it might have been that they were
listening only to the distant footsteps of some stag passing through the
forest.