We had nearly filled our baskets, and I was on my knees picking some strawberries which grew on the bank of a small stream running through an open part of the forest, when Lily, who was at a little distance from me, shrieked out.  I was about to spring to my feet and hurry to her assistance--supposing that she had been frightened by some animal--when what was my horror to see, close to me, a huge wolf, with open jaws, ready to seize me!  My stick, the only weapon I carried, lay just within my reach; so I put out my hand and instinctively grasped it, determined to fight for my own life and Lily's too--knowing how, if the wolf killed me, it would next attack her.