Just as I had finished these preparations, I heard Damian shouting in the forest:
"He's up! He's up!"
And as soon as Damian shouted, the peasants round the circle all replied in their different voices.
"Up, up, up! Ou! Ou! Ou!" shouted the men.
"Ay! Ay! Ay!" screamed the women in high pitched tones.
The bear was inside the circle, and as Damian drove him on, the people all round kept shouting. Only my friend and I stood silent and motionless, waiting for the bear to come towards us. As I stood gazing and listening, my heart beat violently. I trembled, holding my gun fast.
"Now, now," I thought. "He will come suddenly. I shall aim, fire, and he will drop—"
Suddenly, to my left, but at a distance, I heard something falling on the snow. I looked between the tall fir trees, and, some fifty paces off, behind the trunks, saw something big and black. I took aim and waited, thinking:
"Won't he come any nearer?"
As I waited I saw him move his ears, turn and go back, and then I caught a glimpse of the whole of him in profile. He was an immense brute. In my excitement I fired and heard my bullet go "flop" against a tree. Peering through the smoke I saw my bear scampering back into the circle and disappearing among the trees.