6 JOURNEY TO THE SHOOTING GROUND 



held a ragged cap which he never put on his head — yet 

 he sat in the snow in seeming comfort, and talked to me 

 quite at his ease. He was, he said, a charasi, — a smoker 

 of the hemp drug, — and the only thing he regretted was the 

 want of this stimulant during his lengthened wanderings. 

 Though the Indian of the plains is a stay-at-home, it is 

 surprising, when he does wander, how he manages to reach 

 the most out-of-the-way places on earth, without means, 

 wretchedly clad, in the most trying climates, and without 

 any commissariat whatever. 



Some distance farther down, Sharafa, my head shikari, 

 discovered a brown or snow bear feeding on the opposite 

 hillside ; but, alas ! the second shikari, who carried the 

 rifle, had gone on ahead. The birching I had given the 

 coolies, two hours previously, had put so much life into 

 them that they had gone straight ahead without a halt, 

 and the rifle-carrier was with them. Sharafa ran on for 

 the rifle, while I sat down, glass in hand, and watched the 

 animal for half an hour. On his return we made a success- 

 ful stalk, and got within forty yards. I hit the bear on 

 the point of the left shoulder, but rather low ; the bullet 

 smashed her fore-leg, split up, and then made a hole in her 

 side. She fell back off the rock she had just mounted, 

 stood for a moment very sick, then collapsed, and rolled 

 down the hillside on to the snow at the bottom of the valley 

 — dead. This was my first shot with a new '450 Henry 

 Express which I had received just before starting on this 

 expedition. Five drams of powder were behind the bullet, 

 which was the usual hollow Eley Express, weighing 270 

 grains. The whole business did not take fifteen minutes, 

 from the moment the rifle was brought. It was getting 

 late, and camp was some distance off, so we had to do every- 

 thing at best pace. The bear was a small one and very 

 thin, but the fur was in splendid condition. 



