124 BEAR SHOOTING 



expecting to catch her at every step ; but she kept jusfc 

 beyond his reach, and, after a run of a hundred yards, 

 Jamala came up panting and looking very foolish — for the 

 hen mother was now following him ! Her stratafrem, 

 however, was unsuccessful, for our party was still standing 

 a few yards from her brood, A finer illustration of 

 maternal love overcoming natural timiditv could not be 

 imagined. The hen came within five yards and circled 

 round us with drooping wings and ruffled feathers, and 

 limping, the very picture of decrepitude, inviting capture 

 by a display of utter helplessness. Jamala this time was 

 not taken in, and we all stood motionless in sym- 

 pathetic admiration, my companions exclaiming, " Suhhdn 

 Allah ! Sahlidn Allah !" (Praise to God ! Praise to God ! ) 

 When these manoeuvres failed to move us, the hen settled 

 on the ground, raked up a cloud of dust, fluttered her 

 wings, and clucked for her chicks to come under protection ; 

 but by this time the chickens had run farther down the 

 hillside and were out of hearing. We left her still calling 

 for them. Farther on we came across the tracks of an 

 enormous stag that must have passed over the bed of snow 

 on the previous evening ; his head would be a splendid 

 trophy four mouths hence. Sharafa then spied, on the 

 opposite side of the Hant valley, a bear coming down to 

 the forest for his mid-day rest. We determined to visit 

 him in the evening, so turned down into that valley, and 

 waited for him to show up on the opposite slopes ; but the 

 bear never appeared, so we walked down to the Hant 

 stream to camp for the night. 



When a short distance from our camping-place, a bear 

 suddenly rushed down the opposite hillside out of a clump 

 of birches, hunted by a hill - crow, just as though the 

 crow, seeing our approach, hunted the bear out to have 

 him shot. This was certainly the bear we had been 



