Once in the spring , a little before Midsummer , Walter heard that there were a great many wolves in the wood , and that pleased him . He was wonderfully brave when he was in the midst of his companions or at home with his brothers and sister , then he used often to say ` One wolf is nothing , there ought to be at least four . ' When he wrestled with Klas Bogenstrom or Frithiof Waderfelt and struck them in the back , he would say ` That is what I shall do to a wolf ! ' and when he shot arrows at Jonas and they rattled against his sheepskin coat he would say : ` That is how I should shoot you if you were a wolf ! ' Indeed , some thought that the brave boy boasted a little ; but one must indeed believe him since he said so himself . So Jonas and Lena used to say of him ` Look , there goes Walter , who shoots the wolves . ' And other boys and girls would say ` Look , there goes brave Walter , who is brave enough to fight with four . ' There was no one so fully convinced of this as Walter himself , and one day he prepared himself for a real wolf hunt . He took with him his drum , which had holes in one end since the time he had climbed up on it to reach a cluster of rowan berries , and his tin sabre , which was a little broken , because he had with incredible courage fought his way through a whole unfriendly army of gooseberry bushes . He did not forget to arm himself quite to the teeth with his pop-gun , his bow , and his air-pistol . He had a burnt cork in his pocket to blacken his moustache , and a red cock 's feather to put in his cap to make himself look fierce . He had besides in his trouser pocket a clasp knife with a bone handle , to cut off the ears of the wolves as soon as he had killed them , for he thought it would be cruel to do that while they were still living . It was such a good thing that Jonas was going with corn to the mill , for Walter got a seat on the load , while Caro ran barking beside them . As soon as they came to the wood Walter looked cautiously around him to see perchance there was a wolf in the bushes , and he did not omit to ask Jonas if wolves were afraid of a drum . ` Of course they are ' -LRB- that is understood -RRB- said Jonas . Thereupon Walter began to beat his drum with all his might while they were going through the wood . When they came to the mill Walter immediately asked if there had been any wolves in the neighbourhood lately . ` Alas ! yes , ' said the miller , ` last night the wolves have eaten our fattest ram there by the kiln not far from here . ' ` Ah ! '
said Walter , ` do you think XXXXX there were many ? '
Of against as at because before from since that through