When I approached there sprang from the body of the slain cock a rapacious ermine that hid under the trunk of a fallen tree.

The bird's neck was badly torn.

I then understood that the ermine had charged the cock, fastened itself on his neck and had been carried by the bird into the air, as he sucked the blood from its throat, and had been the cause of the heavy fall back to the earth.
Thanks to his aeronautic ability I saved one cartridge.
So I lived fighting for the morrow and more and more poisoned by hard and bitter thoughts.

The days and weeks passed and soon I felt the breath of warmer winds.

On the open places the snow began to thaw.