he icy barricade, and tempt Bruin to come forth.

The icy wall could be broken in by means of a long boar-spear with which
the Finnish peasant had provided himself. It was headed with a heavy
piece of iron, edged and tipped with the best Swedish steel, and this
being jobbed against the ice, and kept constantly at work, soon
splintered the shell into pieces.

As soon as the Quan saw that he had opened a hole large enough to pass
the body of the bear, he drew back his spear, telling the hunter to look
out.

During the operation, all three had kept watch through crevices in the
stockade-wall, holding their guns pointed towards the aperture, and
ready to give the bear a volley the moment he should show his snout.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

THE SPITTING-DEVIL.

To their disappointment, however, the bear refused to exhibit even as
much as the tip of his nose, not only while his door was being opened,
but afterwards; and they began to think that he might not come forth
after all.

The Quan assured them that he would be certain to do so in time; but
perhaps not for a few hours, till after they should have remained quiet
a while, and old _nalle_ should fancy they had gone away.

"He has been a long time without his breakfast," added the Quan, "and
his stomach will now be talking loudly to him; that will tell him to
steal out for something to eat. No fear of it, masters!"

"But for what purpose have you designed this hole?" inquired Ivan,
pointing to the little aperture that had been left in the wattled
enclosure.

"Oh," replied the peasant, "that is how we kill bears sometimes;
especially if we are not rich enough to have a gun. As soon as old
_nalle_ rushes out from his den, the first thing he does is to run all
round, looking for a chance to break through the fence. Of course he
finds the hole, and pokes his head through it. One of us stands
outside, as you see me now, with a hatchet ready; and we would be
clumsy, indeed, if we could not cleave in his skull, or give him such a
crack upon it, as would turn him back downwards. You shall see how the
bear will rush to this hole the moment he comes out, and then, masters!
you shall see!"

Here the Quan gave a significant shake to his hatchet, twirling it with
the dexterity peculiar to his craft, for it so chanced that he was a
woodcutter by trade.

Our hunters, however, saw that this would never do. According to the
conditions under which they travelled, the be