Page:The Complete Works of Lyof N. Tolstoi - 08 (Crowell, 1899).djvu/68

56 to me. On my right was another clump of firs, and then began a clearing. And I saw that Demyan had posted my comrade on this clearing.

I examined my two muskets, cocking them, and tried to decide where would be the best place for me to take my position. Just behind me, three paces distant, was a tall pine tree.

"Let me stand by this pine and rest my second musket against it."

I made my way over to the pine, through snow that reached above my knees, and then under the pine I trampled down a little space of an arshin and a half, and established myself in it. I held one musket across my arm; the other I leaned against the tree, ready cocked. I took out my dagger and put it in its sheath again, so as to see if in case of necessity it would come out easily.

I had just finished my preparations when I heard Demyan shouting in the woods:—

"He has started out! he has started! he has started!"

And in reply to Demyan's call, the peasants on all sides began to shout in various voices. "Pashol! u-u-u-u-u!" shouted the peasants. "Aï, i-i-ikh!" screamed the women, in their sharp voices.

The bear was inside the circle. Demyan was driving him. On all sides the people were shouting; only my comrade and I were standing silent and motionless, awaiting the bear. I stood and listened, and my heart within me was beating like a sledge-hammer. I had my musket in position ; I trembled a little.

"Now, now," I thought to myself, "he will come leaping by; I will aim, I will fire my gun at him, and down he will go." ….

Suddenly, on my left, I heard something rushing through the snow; only it was at some distance. I gazed at the tall fir; fifty paces away, behind the trees, stood something black and big. I raised my gun and waited. I asked myself:—