Dead bones of animals are never found.137
’Tis said that thither in the capital,
Among the beasts good customs are preserved,
Because they rule themselves, yet uncorrupt
By civilising influence of man.
They know no laws of property, which vex
Our world, nor duels know, or warlike arts.
And as the fathers dwelt in Paradise,
So live to-day their children, wild and tame,
In love and concord. Never bites or gores
The one the other. Should a man e’en enter,
He might, although unarmed, in safety pass
Among the beasts; they would upon him gaze,
With that same wonder, as upon the last
And sixth day of creation their first fathers,
Who dwelt within the garden, looked on Adam,
Before they quarrelled with him. Happily
No man shall ever stray unto this place,
For Difficulty, Care, and Death prevent him.
Sometimes alone have mastiffs, hot in chase,
Entered unguardedly ’mid marshes, moss,
Ravines, and, wounded by their inner horror,
Fled back, loud whining, with distracted looks;
And by their master’s hand though long caressed,
Yet mad with fear still tremble at his feet.
These central wastes, to mankind all unknown,
The hunters in their tongue call Mateczniki.
Thou foolish bear! if thou hadst stayed at home,
In the Matecznik, never would the Wojski
Have heard of thee; but whether the sweet smell
Of beehives lured thee, or thou wert possessed
By a desire unto the ripened barley,
Thou camest forth unto the forest’s verge,
Where thinner grows the wood, and there at once
The forester did thine existence track;
And he sent forth the beaters, cunning spies,
To mark where thou didst posture, and where thou
Didst make thy night-lair. Now the Wojski comes,
With all the hunt, and stationing the ranks,
Has shut out thy retreat to the Matecznik.
Thaddeus now learned that but a short time since
Into the deep abysses of the wood,
The mastiffs entered. All was still. In vain
The hunters stretched their ears. In vain they listened
To silence, as to most engaging speech,
And waited long, unmoving, in the place;
Only the music of the forest played
To them from far; the dogs plunge in the forest,
As sea-mews underneath the waves; the hunters,
Turning their double-barrels to the wood,
Upon the Wojski gaze. He, kneeling down,
The earth doth question with his ear; and as,
Upon the countenance of a physician,
The glance of friends peruses the decree
Of life or death of one unto them dear,
The hunters, in the Wojski’s skill and art
Confiding, fixed upon him looks of hope
And fear. “It is, it is,” he whispering said,
And sprang upon his feet. He heard; they still
Must listen. At last they hear; one dog whined loud,
Then two, then twenty; all the dogs together
In scattered crowd perceived the scent, and whined,
Fell on the track, bayed loud, and still barked on.
It was not now the bark deliberate
Of dogs pursuing hare, or fox, or hind,
But a continual cry, short, frequent, broken,
Eager. Now had the dogs upon a track
Not distant fallen; they pursue by sight,
When now the cry of chase on sudden ceased;
They had reached the beast. Again a shriek, a whine,
The beast defends himself, and certainly
Inflicts some hurt; among the bay of dogs.
More and more frequent comes a dying groan.
The hunters stood, and each with loaded gun,
Bent himself forward like a bow, with head
Thrust in the forest. Longer can they not
Stay there; one after other from the place
Escapes, and in the forest thrusts himself;
Each would be first to meet the beast, although
The Wojski gave them warning;—though the Wojski
On horseback passed the standpoints round, exclaiming
That be he peasant churl, or nobleman,
Whoever from the spot should stir, should feel
His leash upon his back. There was no help;
Each rushed, despite command, into the wood.
Three guns went off at once! Then straightway sounded
A cannonade, till louder than the shots.
The bear did roar, and echo filled the woods,
A horrid roar of rage, despair, and pain;
And after it the shriek of dogs, the shout
Of hunters, and the prickers’ horns resound,
From midmost of the forest. In the wood
Some of the hunters hasten, others cock
Their triggers, all rejoiced; alone the Wojski
Exclaims in sorrow they have missed. The hunters
And prickers one side went athwart the beast,
Between the forest and the toils. But now
The bear, alarmed by all that throng of dogs
And men, turned backwards to that place, that with
Least diligence was guarded, towards the plains,
Whence all the hunters stationed had removed,
And where, of all the numerous hunters’ ranks,
The Wojski, Thaddeus, and the Count alone
Remained, with a few toilers. Here the forest
Was thinner. In its depths was heard a roar,
A shaking of the ground, till from the thicket,
As though from out the clouds, the bear rushed forth
Like thunderbolt; the dogs pursued him, they
Were frightened, rushed about; he reared aloft
Upon his hind legs, and around him gazed,
Frightening his enemies by dreadful roars;
And with his forepaws tearing now beneath
Stones overgrown with moss, now blackened branches,
Hurling them over dogs and men, until
He broke away a tree, and whirling this
Round like a club, to leftward and to right,
He rushed on those who guarded last the toils,
The Count and Thaddeus. They stood fearlessly,
And ready to step forward, towards the beast
Pointing the barrels of their guns, like two
Lightning conductors in a dark cloud’s bosom,
Till both, in the same instant, drew their triggers.
Ah! inexperienced!—their guns both sounded
Together; they had missed! The bear sprang forward.
They seized a hunting spear implanted there,
With all their four arms, and for its possession
Struggled together. Looking, they beheld
From forth that great red muzzle gleam two rows
Of tusks, and now a great paw armed with claws
Descends upon their heads. They both grew pale,
And backwards sprang, escaping unto where
The wood grew rarer. After them the bear
Reared up behind; now had he hooked his claws,
Missed them, ran nearer, and again upreared,
And with his black paw stretched unto the yellow
Hair of the Count;—he would have torn his skull
Off from his brains, as from his head the hat.
When the Assessor and the Regent sprang
From either side; but by some hundred paces
Gervasy ran before them, and with him
Was Robak, though without a gun; but all
The three together fired as at command.
The bear sprang up, like hare before a hound,
And fell, his
