126 BEAR SHOOTING 



he had been feeding. The bullet must have broken his 

 fore leg a little above the paw. I was disgusted with 

 myself — less because I had lost the bear than because I 

 had wounded the poor beast and allowed him to escape. 

 No doubt he would recover from the wound, but it was an 

 uncomfortable thought that he had been put to unnecessary 

 pain. He was a small animal, little more than half-grown. 

 Off at five o'clock next morning, with Ghaffar, the local 

 man, and down the stream for some distance, across a 

 snow-bridge and up the left side of the valley. I saw many 

 fresh traces of bears when we got above the forest-line and 

 on the grassy hill slopes, and I made certain of sighting 

 Bruin as we topped each swell of the undulating mountain 

 side, but met disappointment instead. As we emerged 

 from the forest and came on to the flowery meads, two 

 hinds rushed out from amongst the trees and passed in 

 front of us, not more than a hundred yards away. Two 

 crows had been cawing and flying about the forest in the 

 direction from which these animals came ; I suspected 

 they were driven out by these very sporting birds, as the 

 bear had been last evening. The hinds went up the slope 

 for a bit, and then stopped on our left front and a little 

 above us ; they were not more than a hundred yards off, 

 but had not seen us as we crouched in the lonGf grass. 

 One was smaller than the other, and seemed inclined to 

 romp with her companion, but the latter was too intent on 

 her morning meal to join in the game. Their grey sides, 

 groomed by nature's hand, shone again in the morning sun, 

 and flashed back his rays like a mirror at every movement. 

 They did not see us for some time, and were entirely at 

 their ease : it was a pretty sight. Ghaffar Bat said, 

 " Shoot one for meat " — the beast ! — when I could see 

 their sides heaving with each breath and the sunlight 

 rippling on the glossy flanks. Ghaffar got so excited at last 



