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Updated: May 1, 2025
His only hope was that the cries which he was raising would bring the others to his assistance; and of this he had no doubt: as he already heard both Pouchskin and Alexis hurrying up towards the spot. It was a perilous moment.
So overcome was he with mirth, that it is possible he would have let go, and permitted Pouchskin to tumble back into his trap; but the more sober Alexis, foreseeing such a contingency, ran up and took hold of the rope.
He might still have retreated, though not with a certainty of safety for in the hurry of the moment the bear had got on the bank above him: and had he turned his back, the fierce quadruped might have overtaken, and knocked him down at his will. Pouchskin thought it better to face the bear, and receive his onslaught at arm's length.
It was the presence of this cord that suggested to Alexis the scheme he had conceived, for relieving his faithful follower from his unhappy position; and the plan itself will be understood by our describing its execution, which took place on the instant. Alexis called to Pouchskin to tie one end of the rope round his body, and then fling the other out upon the snow as far as he could cast it.
In front of the aperture was a little ledge, where the snow was hacked by the bear's paws, but below this ledge the bank trended steeply down its slope terminating in the bed of deeper snow already described. As stated, the three hunters had taken their stand, but not all together. Directly in front of the cave was Pouchskin, and below it, of course, on account of the sloping bank.
In due time the dogs were once more started; and Pouchskin putting them to their highest rate of speed soon overtook the sledge-train; which did not come to a halt until a good mile of snow-covered country was between it and the bears.
Except above the water, it was firm enough to have borne his weight, and after a time he might have scrambled out; but a more expeditious plan of relieving him, and one far less troublesome to Pouchskin, suggested itself to Alexis. One of the impedimenta, which the old guardsman carried on his shoulders, was a coil of stout cord almost a rope.
Pouchskin, far up in the top, was tossed backward and forward as if he had been a shuttlecock between two battledores and it was just as much as he could do to keep his hold among the branches, much less finish the loading of his fusil, which he had only half accomplished when the rocking began.
His young masters were too much concerned about their faithful Pouchskin to give way to mirth; but on ascertaining that he had only received a few insignificant bruises, thanks to the Spanish mules not being shod, they, too, were very much disposed to have a laugh at his expense.
Alexis and Ivan also drew near one on each side of him and the exploration continued. In a short while, however, Pouchskin became nearly satisfied that there was no bear in the den! He had groped with his stick all round and round it, and had come in contact with nothing softer than a rock or a root of the tree.
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