IX BEAR, BISON, AND SAMBHUR 93 



on unharmed ; bang again from Francis, and 

 both bears were practically on the top of us, 

 kicking up a most awful row. The Sholaga was 

 already half-way up a tree, and I heard Francis 

 shout, " Fire, fire, Charlie, they are on us." By 

 this time the bears were just level with me, with 

 no intention of turning. I plugged one of them, 

 when with roars they started biting each other, 

 and as they turned I let drive again. It was 

 most disastrous, and I swore I would never use 

 Meade's shells again, as, though blood was show- 

 ing and I followed them up to noon of the next 

 day, we did not account for either. 



On the 17th I bagged my biggest bull of the 

 trip. We had started very early in the morning, 

 and had no sooner got to the top of a hill 

 than Madha espied a bull bison. I took my 

 glasses and looked carefully all round, but could 

 only see the one, so decided it must be a 

 solitary, and if so, an extremely fine one from 

 its size. Solitaries, too, are always old bulls 

 which are driven out of the herd by males that 

 are more in their prime. The following-up and 

 bagging of a solitary is far and away the cream 

 of bison shooting, as one has to deal with an 

 irascible old curmudgeon, and then again there 

 is no chance of having one's labour spoilt by a 

 cow discovering one, as so often happens in 

 following a herd. 



Madha led the way with unerring intuition, 

 and soon brought me on the track of our quarry. 

 Pointing ahead, he signed to me to crouch down, 

 and led me to a rock, behind which I hid, and on 

 carefully looking over I saw a sight that made 



