CHAPTER XXI.NANCY AND THE BIG BEAR.
There was, as Colonel Drury had promised, plenty for Boris to do atKarapselka; so much so, indeed, that the hunter scarcely was awareof the flight of time, so happily did the days and the weeks and themonths come and go. Nancy was the sweetest of young wives, and in hercompany Boris soon forgot his disgrace, and the sorrow and regretwhich the quarrel with the Tsar still caused him whenever he recalledit. Away from drills and service and the countless engagements andamusements of city life, the bear-hunter soon recovered all his oldpassion for the life of the forest. From morn till night he was afoot,tracking, hunting upon his trusty snow-shoes, stalking capercailzie orblackcock among the rime-embroidered pine trees, and revelling in thefree and wholesome air of his oldest friend, the forest. Nancy oftenaccompanied him on his excursions, when the distance was not too great;and the evenings passed as happily as mutually agreeable society couldmake them.
During these months and even years of peaceful life at Karapselka,Boris had many adventures with those animals which had furnished himhis original title, as well as with wolves. In these adventures hefound that his old skill in the chase was in no wise diminished, norhis nerve shaken, nor his strength and activity abated; he was stillthe bear-hunter all over. Sometimes it appeared to him that all hismilitary career and his many adventures by land and sea were nothingmore than a dream, and that he was back in Dubinka chasing the wildanimals as a paid employe of his liege lord, the owner of the land andvillage in which he lived. But a word from Nancy, or a look into hersweet face, soon put matters into shape, and he knew himself for whathe was--a once-favoured servant and soldier of the Tsar, now livingunder a cloud; a state of affairs which should have made him verymiserable, whereas there was no denying the fact that he was nothingof the sort, but, on the contrary, exceedingly well content with hispresent lot.
One day, when they had been married for the better part of a year,Boris and Nancy met with an adventure which might have had fatalconsequences for both of them.
Boris had allowed his wife to accompany him, as he often did, intothe woods, driving in their comfortable kibitka, or covered sledge,to a point at a distance of a few miles from the house, and thenceproceeding on snow-shoes for a mile or two further in pursuit of haresor foxes, or perhaps with an eye to a partridge or two to replenish thelarder.
The day was magnificent--one of those glorious February days when thesun is bright but not warm, and the air rare and invigorating; whenevery pine is a marvel of subtile filigree-work in silver rime, and thesnow beneath one's feet is dazzling with innumerable ice-gems, and hasso hard a crust upon it that it will bear the weight of a man.
Nancy and her husband had enjoyed their drive, and were now drinking inthe intoxicating fresh forest air as they slid easily along upon theirsnow-shoes, Nancy having by this time become quite an expert in thisgraceful fashion of getting over the ground.
The larder at Karapselka happened to be empty at this time, for therewas no system of obliging bakers and butchers to call for orders inthat out-of-the-way spot, nor indeed in Moscow either in those days;and Boris was intent upon whistling up tree-partridges, to providefood for the establishment at home. Three of these beautiful birds hadcome swooping up in response to his call, but had swerved and settleda hundred paces to the left. Boris immediately and cautiously followedthem, in hope of getting a shot at the birds before they should takefright. On crept Boris, Nancy cautiously following him at a distance.
Suddenly, to the surprise and alarm of Nancy, and certainly no lessof himself, Boris disappeared in a cloud of snow--disappeared ascompletely as though the earth had opened and swallowed him whole.
For a moment Nancy stopped short in consternation and uncertainty,so sudden had been the disappearance of her lord, when, to her stillgreater amazement and horror, there came from the spot where herhusband had disappeared first terrific roars and growlings, togetherwith much upheaving of snow and pine boughs, and next the ponderousfigure of a large bear. Boris had fallen into a _berloga_, whichis Russian for the den which a bear makes for himself during hishibernating period, and in which he remains more or less fast asleepfrom November until the thawing of the snow in March or April.
This was the first occasion upon which Nancy had seen a live bear atclose quarters; and though she was as courageous a little person as youwill meet in a day's march, yet the unexpected sight filled her withterror, which was largely increased when the great brute caught sightof her, and with renewed roarings made straight for the very spot whereshe stood helpless and motionless.
What had happened is easily explained and in a few words. Boris hadstepped upon the top of a berloga, the roof of which immediately gaveway beneath his weight, precipitating him upon the top of the sleepingtenant. The bear was not so far gone in somnolence but that the suddendescent upon his person of so heavy an individual as Boris not onlyawoke but irritated him exceedingly. Boris, finding himself upon thebear's back at the bottom of Bruin's own premises, felt quite at home;indeed, he was never more so than when in the company of a bear. Hefelt about for his knife, but found to his annoyance that he had leftit at home. His axe was at his side, but there was no room to use itexcept by getting off the brute's back and allowing it to scramble outof the den, when he might get a stroke at it as it went, wounding itsufficiently to prevent its escape, and finishing the business as soonas he could climb out also.
Meanwhile, the bear was doing its utmost to rid itself of the incubuson its back. It heaved itself up and wriggled, and at last tried tobolt through the aperture which the new arrival had made in the roof ofthe den. By this move it rid itself of Boris, who slid off backwards,but could not recover himself in time to aim the blow at Bruin'shind-quarter which he had intended to deal it.
By the time Boris was upon his feet the bear had disappeared, and itonly then struck Boris that Nancy was outside, and might be in dangerof receiving injury from the frightened and angry creature. Full ofthis fear Boris darted upwards in order to follow the bear and see toNancy's safety. But the roof gave way as he attempted to climb out, andhe fell backwards a second time to the bottom of the berloga. At thesecond attempt Boris was more successful, and reached the surface insafety.
But when he did so he saw a sight which filled him with fear andhorror, for the huge brute was in full pursuit of his young wife,who fled before it upon her snow-shoes, uttering cries of alarm andcalling on Boris to help her.
"Bear round this way to me--to me, Nancy!" shouted the poor hunter inagony, starting to run after the pair in desperate dread.
His snow-shoes had been broken in his tumble into the bear's den, sothat he was now on foot and trusting to the hard crust of the snowto support him. The animal turned at the sound of his voice, and fora moment seemed to pause, as though doubtful upon which of the twoenemies to wreak its passion; then it turned again and resumed itspursuit of poor Nancy. Boris saw with anguish that whenever Nancyendeavoured to edge round in order to come towards him, her pursuerseemed to comprehend her design, and prevented it by cutting the cornerto meet her.
Then Boris thought in his agony of mind of another plan. Nancy wasgliding beautifully on her light shoes, and could easily keep her leadof the bear so long as her breath held out; while he, run as fast as hemight, could scarcely keep up with the chase, without shoes to help himalong. It was plain that at this rate he would never overtake bear orwife, and could thus do nothing to assist poor Nancy.
"Make for the sledge, Nancy," he shouted; "go straight along our oldtracks--'tis but a short half-mile away!"
Nancy heard and understood, and went straight on, looking neither tothe right hand nor to the left, but only straining every nerve to gainupon the brute behind her, so as to reach the sledge sufficiently wellahead of him to allow time to unfasten the horse, which was tied to atree.
On rushed Nancy, and on came the bear behind her, she gaining slowlybut steadily; and after them came panting Boris, with difficultyholding his own, for all that he was a good runner and
in faircondition, for at every third or fourth step the treacherous snowsurface gave way and plunged his foot and leg deep in the powderyice-covered stuff.
And now the sledge came into view, and a glad sight it was for morethan one of the party. Nancy took heart at seeing it, and made arenewed effort to gain a yard or two, reaching the horse's head--thehorse struggling and tugging for terror of the bear the while--with alead of thirty good yards. Deftly she untied the noose and freed thesnorting, terrified animal, and as deftly she threw her body across theside of the sledge, and the horse, feeling himself free, dashed withit homewards. Then she slipped into the seat, just at the very momentthat Bruin arrived upon the spot to find his bird flown.
"Bravo, bravo, my Nancy!" shouted Boris, as he watched with unspeakablerelief and joy how the swift little sledge bore her instantly out ofdanger.--"Now, Mishka," he added, "come back and settle accounts withme; you won't catch that bird, she's flown."
The bear, who was still standing and watching the sledge as it glidedaway from him, seemed to hear and comprehend the invitation of Boris.It turned sharp round upon hearing his voice, and with a loud roaraccepted the challenge thrown out to it. It looked very large, andcertainly a terrific object, as it bore down upon Boris, half mad withfury that Nancy should have escaped its wrath, and roaring aloud as itcame.
But the hunter cared nothing for its roarings, nor yet for the ferocityof its appearance, though such fury as it had shown was somewhat rarein a bear which is suddenly awaked from its winter sleep. He stood verycalmly, axe in hand, and awaited the onslaught.
When the bear came close up it raised itself upon its hind-legs,whereupon Boris aimed a terrific blow with his axe at the head of thebrute. The axe was sharp and the aim was true, and the iron crashedthrough Bruin's head with so mighty a shock that in an instant thismonster, who had been so terrible but a moment since, was more harmlessthan the smallest creature that flies and stings.
Then Boris looked, and perceived that his wife had returned from thesledge and was at his elbow with the gun, which she had found andbrought in case he should require help in his dealings with the bear.She was pale with her fright and panting with her run, and Boris tookher very tenderly in his arms and bore her back to the sledge, praisingand encouraging her. And it so fell out that on this very night wasborn their little daughter Katie, of whom I shall have somethingpresently to tell.
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