I washed and dressed and loaded my guns, and then we got into a sledge and started.
The sharp frost still continued. It was quiet and the sun could not be seen. There was a thick mist above us and hoar-frost still covered everything.
After driving about two miles along the road, as we came near the forest, we saw a cloud of smoke raising from a hollow, and presently reached a group of peasants, both men and women, armed with cudgels.
We got out and went up to them. The men sat roasting potatoes and laughing and talking with the women.
Damian was there, too, and when we arrived the people got up and Damian led them to place them in the circle we had made the day before. They went along in single file, men and women, thirty in all. The snow was so deep that we could only see them from their waists upwards. They turned into the forest and my friend and I followed in their track.
Though they had trodden a path, walking was difficult; but, on the other hand, it was impossible to fall; it was like walking between two walls of snow.
We went on in this way for nearly half a mile, when all at once we saw Damian coming from another direction—running towards us on his snow-shoes and beckoning us to join him. We went towards him and he showed us where to stand. I took my place and looked round me.
To my left were tall fir trees, between the trunks of which I could see a good way, and, like a black patch just visible behind the trees, I could see a beater. In front of me was a thicket of young firs about as high as a man, their branches weighed down and stuck together with snow. Through this copse ran a path thickly covered with snow, and leading straight up to where I stood. The thicket stretched away to the right of me and ended in a small glade where I could see Damian placing my comrade.
I examined both my guns and considered where I had better stand. Three steps behind me was a tall fir.
"That's where I'll stand," thought I, "and then I can lean my second gun against the tree;" and I moved towards the tree, sinking up to my knees in the snow at each step. I trod the snow down, and made a clearance about a yard square to stand on. One gun I kept in my hand; the other, ready cocked, I placed leaning up against the tree. Then I unsheathed and replaced my dagger, to make sure that I could draw it easily in case of need.