While proceeding towards the ground where they expected to find the
bear, their guide informed them that he had not only ringed the animal,
but actually knew the den in which it was lying. This was still better:
it would not only save them a search, but enable them to encompass the
beast on all sides and cut off his retreat--should he attempt to bolt
before they could get near.
On approaching the place, therefore, Pouchskin proposed that the three
should separate, and, after having deployed into a circle, proceed
inward from different directions.
But the guide opposed this suggestion--saying, with a significant smile,
that there was no need of such precautions, as he would answer for the
bear not leaving his den, until they had all got up as near as they
might wish to be.
The hunters wondered at this confidence on the part of their guide, but
in a few minutes' time they had an explanation of it. Going up to a
sort of cliff that formed the side of a little stony knoll, the Quan
pointed to a hole in the rocks, saying, as he did so:--
"Old _nalle_ is in there."
Now "nalle" is the nickname of the bear throughout the Scandinavian
countries, and our Russian hunters knew this well enough; but that a
bear could be inside the little hole, to which their guide had pointed,
appeared utterly incredible, and Ivan and Alexis burst into a loud
laugh, while Pouchskin was rather inclined to show a little anger about
the matter.
The hole which the Quan had pointed out was a crevice between two great
boulders of rock. It was about a yard above the ground, upon which they
stood; and was certainly not more than six or eight inches in diameter.
All round the orifice the rocks were thickly coated with ice; and from
the top of the cliff on both sides huge icicles projected downwards,
until their tips touched the earth, looking like enormous trunks of
elephants, or such as even mammoths might have carried. One of these
immense icicles was directly in front of the aperture; while on the
ground just below its point stood up a huge mass of an irregular conical
shape, the convex surface of which was coated with snow that had lately
fallen.
The first impression of the hunters was, that they had been deceived by
the cunning Quan. Pouchskin declared that they would not stand being
tricked; and at once demanded back the ten rix-dollars which his young
masters had paid for the "ring" of the bear.
"It was all nonsense," he said; "even if there was a cave, no bear could
be inside, for the simple reason that none, even the smallest, could
possibly have squeezed his carcass through a hole like that;--a cat
could hardly have crept into such an aperture. Besides, where were the
tracks of the bear? There were none to be seen--neither by the mouth of
the hole, nor in the snow outside."
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."
As the Quan said this he let slip a diminutive cur, which he had
hitherto held in the leash. The animal, on being set free, rushed up to
the hole, and commenced scratching at the ice, and barking in the most
furious and excited manner. It certainly proved there was some living
creature inside; but how could the Quan tell it was a bear? and, above
all, a black bear!
He was interrogated on this point.
"By it," replied the peasant, taking from his pouch a tuft of long black
fur, which was evidently that of a bear; "that is how I know that old
_nalle's_ in the cave, and the colour of the hair tells me that it's
_black nalle_ who's inside."
"But how came you by that?" inquired all three in a breath, as the man
held the tuft before their eyes.
"Well, masters!" answered the Quan, "you see some jaggy points on the
rock, at the top of the hole, there. I found it sticking there, where
the bear must have left it, as he was squeezing himself into his cave--
that's how it was."
"But surely," said Alexis, "you don't mean to assert that a bear could
pass through such a hole as that? Why, a badger couldn't get in there,
my man!"
"Not _now_," said the Quan, "I admit; it's three months since he went
in. The hole was bigger then."
"Bigger _then_?"
"Certainly, masters! the heap you see below is only ice. It's the drip
of that great icicle that has frozen up as it fell, and if it were not
there you'd see a place big enough for a bear to get in. Ah! sirs! he's
there, I can assure you."
"Why, he couldn't get out of himself?"
"That is very true," replied the peasant; "he'd be safe enough there
till a good bit on in the spring. If we hadn't found him, he would have
been obliged to stay in his cave till the sun had thawed that great heap
out of his way. It often happens so with the bears in these parts,"
added the Quan, without seeming to think there was anything unusual
about the circumstance.
What the man said was literally true. The bear had gone into this cleft
or cave to take his winter nap, and during the long weeks, while he was
thus hybernating, the water, of rain and melting snow, dripping from the
top of the cliff, had formed enormous stalactites of ice, with
stalagmites as well: since it was one of the latter that had closed up
the entrance to the den, and fairly shut him up in his own house!
Not only does this curious accident often occur to Scandinavian bears,
but these animals, notwithstanding their proverbial sagacity, frequently
become their own jailers. They have a habit of collecting large
quantities of moss and grass in front of their caves, which they place
right in the aperture; and not inside as a bed to lie upon. Why they do
so is not clearly understood. The Scandinavian hunters allege that it
is for the purpose of sheltering them from the cold wind, that would
otherwise blow up into their chamber; and in the absence of any better
explanation this has been generally adopted. The heap soon gets
saturated by rain and melting snow, and congeals into a solid mass, so
hard that it requires to be cut with an axe before it can be got out of
the way; and the bear himself is totally incapable of removing it. The
consequence is that it often shuts up the entrance to his winter
chamber; and Bruin, on awakening from his sleep, finds himself caught in
a trap of his own construction. He has then no other resource but to
remain inside till the spring heats have thawed the mass, so that he can
tear it to pieces with his claws, and thus effect an exit. On such
occasions, he issues forth in a state of extreme weakness and
emaciation. Not unfrequently he is altogether unable to clear away the
obstacle, and perishes in his den.
On hearing these explanations from the Quan, who appeared to be well
acquainted with Bruin's habits, the young hunters were satisfied that a
bear was really in the cave. Indeed, they were not long upon the spot,
till they had still more satisfactory evidence of this fact; for they
could hear the "sniffing" of the animal, with an occasional querulous
growl, as if uttered in answer to the barking of the dog. Beyond doubt,
there was a bear inside.
How was he to be got out? That now became the important question.