he had made in the snow.
But what was strangest of all, there was no snow among his feet: on the
contrary, he was up to his knees in water, and not stagnant water
either, but a current, that ran rapidly underneath the snow, and had
swished the crusted fragments from the spot where he was standing!

A stream, in fact, ran down the ravine; and, although the snow
completely hid it from view, there it was, rushing along underneath
through a tunnel which it had melted out for itself--the snow forming a
continuous bridge above it.

The boys did not know all this--for they could only just see the top of
Pouchskin's head, with his long arms holding the gun--but they could
hear the rushing noise of the water, and Pouchskin reported the rest.

It did not appear so easy to extricate him from his unpleasant
predicament; for the resemblance between his situation, and that of
jack-in-the-box, went no further. There was no jerking machinery by
which the ex-guardsman could be jumped out of his box; and, since his
head was full three feet below the crust of the snow, how he was to be
raised to the surface required some consideration.

Neither of the young hunters dared to approach the circumference of the
circular hole through which Pouchskin had sunk. They might have broken
through themselves, and then all three would have been in the same fix.
Of course, under this apprehension, they dared not go near enough to
pull him out with their hands--even had they been able to reach down to
him.

It is true he might have got out, after some time, by breaking the snow
before him, and working his way at right angles to the course of the
stream: for it was evident that the ground sloped sharply up in that
direction, and the snow became shallower. Except above the water, it
was firm enough to have borne his weight, and after a time he might have
scrambled out; but a more expeditious plan of relieving him, and one far
less troublesome to Pouchskin, suggested itself to Alexis.

One of the _impedimenta_, which the old guardsman carried on his
shoulders, was a coil of stout cord--almost a rope. This they had
brought with them, in the anticipation of being successful in their
hunt; and, with the idea of its being required at the skinning of the
bear--as also for packing the hide, or any similar purpose.

It was the presence of this cord that suggested to Alexis the scheme he
had conceived, for relieving his faithful follower from his unhappy