When we told them how we placed ourselves and the horses in the middle, they blamed us exceedingly, and told us it was fifty to one but we had been all destroyed, for it was the sight of the horses which made the wolves so furious, seeing their prey, and that at other times they are really afraid of a gun; but being excessively hungry, and raging on that account, the eagerness to come at the horses had made them senseless of danger, and that if we had not by the continual fire, and at last by the stratagem of the train of powder, mastered them, it had been great odds but that we had been torn to pieces; whereas, had we been content to have sat still on horseback, and fired as horsemen, they would not have taken the horses so much for their own, when men were on their backs, as otherwise; and withal, they told us that at last, if we had stood altogether, and left our horses, they would have been so eager to have devoured them, that we might have come off safe, especially having our firearms in our hands, being so many in number.
Maar men vroeg ons, welk slag van een gids wij gevonden hadden, die het had durven wagen ons in dat strenge jaargetij te geleiden en verzekerde, dat het een wonder was, dat wij niet allen verongelukt waren. Toen wij verhaalden, welke stelling wij hadden aangenomen en onze paarden in het midden geplaatst hadden, keurden zij dit sterk af, en zeiden dat het vijftig tegen een was, dat wij niet allen verscheurd waren geworden; want de wolven zijn vooral zoo verhit op paarden, maar anders zeer bang voor geweerschoten.