46 AFTER THE VICTORY. 



his, and its fetid breath pouring hot on his face. A 

 sensation of weakness overpowered the hunter, objects 

 swam before his eyes, and he fainted. 



How long he lay in this state he never ascertained. 

 When he regained consciousness he found himself 

 where he had fallen. At a little distance he could 

 perceive the bear, apparently dead, while round its 

 carcass snuffed and gambolled the two young ones. 



On endeavouring to rise, he was glad to find that 

 no bones were broken; but a feeling of numbness 

 rendered his limbs almost powerless, so that he was 

 obliged to crawl towards the dead animal. 



The young bears growled loudly; but the hunter 

 cared little for these manifestations of anger, and 

 continued his approach. The animals then withdrew 

 to the shelter of the forest, where they gave evidence 

 of their presence by an occasional low moan , probably 

 a call to their mother, whose death they had not yet 

 realized. 



On examining the body, which was still quite warm, 

 Pierre perceived that blood trickled from a deep knife- 

 wound behind the shoulder. This was probably the 

 fatal stab which had rescued him from almost certain 

 death. 



The moon was now just sinking behind the west- 

 ern forest, and cast her pale light on the stems of the 

 trees at the eastern edges of the opening. Dense 

 shadow veiled all beyond; and against the sombre 

 background the trunks of the birches showed ghostly 



