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Show ADVENTURERS' CLUB rcC HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES Jry OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF! "Tie Gray Fanged Terror" HELLO EVERYBODY: Dorothy Dublin of Brooklyn, N. Y., wins the place of honor today with the story of a terrible experience that once happened to her dad. That makes her dad, Jacob Dublin, Dub-lin, the club's newest Distinguished Adventurer. It happened in Russia, in the town of Ubtchark, near the city of Minsk, close by what is now the Polish border, and it happened forty-eight years ago, in the late fall of 1888, when Jacob Dublin was just a little nine-year-old boy. If a grown man had gone through the adventure that little Jake encountered on a lonely country road that chilly fall evening in 1888, it would still be a wow of a story. But when an adventure of that sort happens to a nine-year-old kid well then you have a new definition of the true meaning mean-ing of the word "terror." They had wolves in West Russia in those days. For that matter, you'll still find wolves in certain parts of Russia today. Then, there were plenty of them and more than a few lurked in the forests around Ubtchark. Those wolves gave little Jake Dublin plenty to worry about, too. For it was his duty to drive his father's horses to the feeding ground every day, and that feeding ground was on the edge of the forest. . Wolves Harmless During Morning Hours. It wasn't driving the horses TO the pasture so much as driving them home again in the evening that worried little Jake. In the mornings, the wolves never bothered anyone. But in the evening, emboldened by the darkness, they had been known to attack grown men. The result was that little Jake had to be mighty sure to bring those horses back from pasture while it was still light And if it ever happened he was delayed until dusk began to fall well then his dad took over the job of bringing those horses home. But one day things went wrong out at the pasture and little Jake Dublin almost didn't get back. He started early enough. If he had come back as promptly there wouldn't have been any danger. But trouble started when he reached the feeding ground and tried to bring the horses home. There was a beautiful filly in the herd, called Tara, which was as yet unbroken. A couple of times before she had been hard to manage, but this afternoon Jake couldn't do anything with her. For almost an hour he chased her about the pasture trying to get her under control. It was almost dark by the time he got her quieted, and still he had the other horses to round up. It took him another 10 or 15 minutes to Suddenly, a lithe, gray form shot out of the woods and sank its teeth into the neck of the first horse! get all the beasts tethered together, one behind the other, the way his dad had taught him to bring them in, and by that time it was night. Little Jake Has Choice of Two Paths. The forest, to one side of him, was ominously still. Dark treetops loomed over him, silent against an almost pitch black sky. Little Jake knew it was no hour for a nine-year-old boy to be out alone. He knew that the quicker he got home, the better. There were two paths he could take on his way home. One path turned into a road that ran along the edge of the forest. It was a roundabout way, but it was a little safer than the other. The other ran part way through the forest. It was more dangerous than the first route, but it was shorter and it went straight toward his home. Faced with a choice between these two paths, little Jake chose the one that went through the forest. On either path there was danger from wolves. Jake picked the shorter way because well he wanted to get home just as fast as he could. He started down the path leading his long string of horses. He hadn't gone very far when suddenly Tara, who was the second horse in the line, began to get unruly again. She bucked and reared. The rest of the horses became nervous and fidgety. Wondering what was the matter with Tara now, Jake moved down the line and tried to calm her. But the horse wouldn't be calmed. Something was frightening her and frightening her mighty badly, too. Little Jake wasn't long in finding out what was frightening Tara. Suddenly, a lithe, gray form shot out of the brush alongside along-side of the path and sank its teeth into the neck of the first horse! A wolf! Forest Turns Into a Shrieking Bedlam. Then, in an instant the stillness of the forest was rent by a shrieking bedlam. The other horses screamed and struggled while the first horse, blood gushing from his throat, was pulled down by the wolf. So far the wolf had paid no attention to little Jake. He was too intent on making his kill. But now, other wolves were coming, attracted by the noise and the scent of blood. Jake could hear their weird howling coming nearer and nearer. When the rest of the pack arrived well then he'd be in for it. Then there would be a general slaughter of his poor animals, ani-mals, and he, too, would find how it felt to have a wolf's fangs tearing at his throat. He stood in the midst of his rearing, plunging horses, too stiff with fright to move a step. What good would it do him to run anyway? Those wolves could pick up a scent and follow it faster than he could run. And then little Jake saw it a light. Far down the path, half obscured ob-scured by trees, a torch was flaring. Then he saw another and another! He could hear voices now men's voices, shouting to him to stay where he was. The wolf heard those voices, too. He slunk off into the forest and the howls of the advancing pack were stilled. In a few moments a band of villagers came running up the trail. They had started combing comb-ing the forest when little Jake didn't get home by nightfall and they had arrived just in time to insure his getting home at all. (Released by Western Newspaper TJnion.) |