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Updated: June 1, 2025
He now aimed at the heart of the huge animal, but before he could pull trigger, a loud crash sounded in his ear, and Bruin was seen dropping to the ground, where he continued to lie, almost without giving a kick! It was the axe of Pouchskin that had caused the crash, as its edge of steel descended upon the bear's cranium, smashing it in as if it had been an eggshell.
"Why?" asked the ex-guardsman, "don't you intend to unearth the brute?" "Yes, master," replied the Quan; "but something must be done first. This is a black bear, you must know." "Well, and what of a black one more than any other?" demanded Pouchskin, somewhat surprised, for in the forests of Russia, where he had hunted bears, there were no black ones.
Alexis and Ivan being light weights passed over the snow safely enough; but Pouchskin, weighing nearly as much as both of them and further loaded with a ponderous wood-axe and his huge gun, to say nothing of sundry well-filled pockets and pouches was more than the crust would carry.
Whether it was because the animal he bestrode was French, or whether something in Pouchskin's voice had sounded ill in their ears, it is not possible to say, but all, at once the whole Spanish mulada was perceived to be in motion each individual mule rushing towards Pouchskin with pricked ears, open mouth, and tail elevated in the air!
Perhaps it would have been as well for Pouchskin, if he had quietly remained in that attitude: for the bear had already turned from him, and showed signs of an intention to retreat; but Pouchskin, deeming that he was in the worst position he could well be in, scrambled suddenly to his feet, and made a "grab" at his gun.
Pouchskin was seen to lunge forward with his right arm the one which carried his knife; and, the moment after, both man and beast appeared closed together, "in grips." In this fashion they went waltzing over the snow, the spray of which rose in a cloud around them; and for a while they were seen only as one dark upright form, in confused and violent motion!
It led them also to an adventure, which was the first they had yet encountered; and which came very near being the last that Pouchskin was ever to have in the world. Pouchskin was certainly in great peril; and how he escaped from it will be learnt, by reading an account of the adventure.
There were old tracks of the peasant himself and of a dog, but not of a bear. "It's a decided take-in," grumbled Pouchskin. "Patience, master!" said the Quan. "There is a bear inside for all that; and I'll prove it, or else return you your money. See my little dog! he'll tell you old nalle is there. It was he that told me."
At this work had Pouchskin been left, surrounded by a circle of grinning darkies, in whose company the old grenadier would find material to interest and amuse him. It was only for a stroll that our young hunters had sallied forth, and without any design of entering upon the chase; but they had become so accustomed to carrying their guns everywhere, that these were taken along with them.
It was not this that was now causing him to look down with such an anxious and troubled countenance. It was his apprehensions for Pouchskin. Where was he? At the bottom of the crater-like pit Alexis could see the body of the animal, but nothing of a man neither arms, legs, nor body. Could he be under the bear, concealed by the shaggy hair?
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