caw ! a crow flew up from the ditch . Walter immediately regained courage . ` It was well I took my drum with me , ' he thought , and went straight on with courageous steps . Very soon he came quite close to the kiln , where the wolves had killed the ram . But the nearer he came the more dreadful he thought the kiln looked . It was so gray and old . Who knew how many wolves there might be hidden there ? Perhaps the very ones which killed the ram were still sitting there in a corner . Yes , it was not at all safe here , and there were no other people to be seen in the neighbourhood . It would be horrible to be eaten up here in the daylight , thought Walter to himself ; and the more he thought about it the uglier and grayer the old kiln looked , and the more horrible and dreadful it seemed to become the food of wolves . ` Shall I go back and say that I struck one wolf and it escaped ? ' thought Walter . ` Fie ! ' said his conscience , ` Do you not remember that a lie is one of the worst sins , both in the sight of God and man ? If you tell a lie to-day and say you struck a wolf , to-morrow surely it will eat you up . ' ` No , I will go to the kiln , ' thought Walter , and so he went . But he did not go quite near . He went only so near that he could see the ram 's blood which coloured the grass red , and some tufts of wool which the wolves had torn from the back of the poor animal . It looked so dreadful . '
I wonder what the ram thought when they ate him up , ' thought Walter XXXXX himself ; and just then a cold shiver ran through him from his collar right down to his boots .
If about at from in nearer of that to with