The entrance to the cave, if cave it was, was an aperture of no great
dimensions--about large enough to admit the body of a full-grown bear,
and no bigger. It appeared to be a hole or burrow, rather than a cave,
and ran under a great pine-tree, among whose roots, no doubt, was the
den of the bear. The tree itself grew up out of the sloping bank; and
its great rhizomes stretched over a large space, many of them appearing
above the surface soil. 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. He was some six paces from the
aperture. On the right side Ivan had been placed, while Alexis had
passed on, and now stood upon the left. The three formed a sort of
isosceles triangle, of which Pouchskin was the apex, and the line of the
bank the base. A perpendicular dropped from the muzzle of Pouchskin's
gun would have entered the aperture of the cave. Of course Pouchskin's
was the post of danger; but that was to be expected.
They stood a good while in silence. No signs of Bruin--neither by sight
nor hearing.
It was then resolved that some stir should be made--a noise of any kind,
that might bring the beast forth. They coughed and talked loudly, but
all to no purpose. They shouted at length with like fruitless result--
Bruin would not stir!
That he was inside none of them doubted. How could they? The tracks
going to the cave, and none coming from it, set that question at rest.
Certainly he was in his den? but whether asleep or not, it was evident
he took no heed of their shouting.
Some other means must be adopted to get him out. He must be stirred up
with a pole! This was the plan that suggested itself, and the one
determined upon.
Pouchskin started off to procure a pole. The others kept guard--still
holding their guns in readiness, lest the bear might make a rush in
Pouchskin's absence. But Bruin had no such intention; nor was his
presence betrayed by sight or sound, until Pouchskin came back. He had
cut a pole with his axe, and had taken the precaution to select a long
one. A young sapling it was, that when cleared of its branches appeared
as long as a hop-pole. Pouchskin knew the advantage of its length. He
had no particular wish to come to close quarters with the bear.
Creeping back pretty nearly into his old place, he inserted the end of
the sapling into the aperture--then rattled it against the sides, and
waited a bit. No response from Bruin! Once more the pole was pushed
in, this time a little further, and again accompanied with similar noisy
demonstrations. Bruin neither moves nor makes sound!
"He must be asleep! Try a little further, Pouchskin!"
This suggestion came from the impatient Ivan.
Encouraged by the words of his young master, Pouchskin approached,
nearer to the aperture, and buried half of the pole inside. He then
turned the stick and poked it all about, but could touch nothing that
felt like a bear. Growing more confident, he crept yet nearer, and
pushed the pole up till he could touch the bottom of the cave--once more
feeling with its point in all directions, against the further end, along
the sides, upwards and downwards, and everywhere. Still he touched
nothing soft--nothing that felt as the shaggy hide of a bear should do--
nothing, in fact, but hard rocks, against which the stick could be heard
rattling wherever he pushed it!
This was very mysterious. Pouchskin was an old bear-hunter. He had
poked his pole into many a burrow of Bruin, and he knew well enough when
he had touched bottom. He could tell moreover that the cave he was now
exploring was all in one piece--a single-roomed house. Had there been
any second or inner chamber he would have found the aperture that led to
it; but there appeared to be none.
To make sure of this, he now approached quite near to the entrance, and
continued to guage the cavity with his stick. 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. As a last _resource_ he lay down on the ground to
listen--placing his ear close to the mouth of the cave; and, cautioning
his young masters to keep silent, in this position he remained for some
seconds of time.
Perhaps it was fortunate for them, if not for him, that they attended to
his caution. Their silence enabled them to hear what Pouchskin could
not--placed as he now was--and that was a sound that caused the young
bear-hunters to start back and look upwards, instead of into the cave.
As they did so, a sight met their eyes that drew from both a
simultaneous cry, while both at the same instant retreated several paces
from the spot, elevating their guns as they went backward.
Slowly moving down the trunk of the great pine-tree appeared an animal
of enormous size. Had they not been expecting something of the kind
neither could have told that this moving object was an animal: since at
first sight neither a head nor limbs could be distinguished--only an
immense shapeless mass of brown shaggy hair.
The instant after a huge hairy limb was protruded below, and then
another both terminating in broad ungulated paws, that in succession
griped the rough bark of the tree, causing it to rattle and scale off.
Singular as its shape was there was no mistaking the animal that was
making this retrograde movement. It was Bruin himself, descending the
tree buttocks downward!