MY FIRST BEAR 243 



fasting on the hillside, when Kamal Shikari got the first 

 view of him digging on the hillside to the rights about a 

 mile off. Before we could get near him, he had gone down 

 over to the other slope and was out of sight, and the wind 

 changed. But the bear luckily was at the bottom of the 

 valley, and so the wind for once was in our favour. We 

 found that the bear was having a bath in the stream, and he 

 seemed to enjoy it extremely ; the sun was very hot, and I 

 envied him. After several rolls in the water, he came out 

 and wiped himself vigorously on the grass, especially under 

 the neck, which showed the white collar distinctly. Then 

 he shook himself and frisked about, and again betook him- 

 self to the more serious business of searching for grubs, 

 gradually ascending the opposite slope. We worked 

 cautiously down and then up, eventually catching him up ; 

 but he was constantly moving, and, though I had him 

 covered several times, I could not get a good chance. At 

 last he stopped for a moment, broadside on, a little above 

 me and about fifty yards off, when I gave him a solid 

 bullet from the Winchester, on receipt of which he bolted 

 down the hill and round towards my right. I lost sight 

 of him at once, on account of the slope and the huge rocks 

 about ; so ran to get a view. Unfortunately, a huge rock 

 prevented my seeing the bear, and the bear from seeing 

 us. He came full tilt in our direction till he passed the 

 rock on my right, certainly not five yards off ; then he 

 stopped suddenly, gave a loud grunt, and stood up on his 

 hind legs. We were very much taken aback at this 

 sudden apparition ; and Kamal, the shikari, standing next 

 to me, improved the situation by uttering a loud cry, 

 throwing up his hands, and falling on his back, just like a 

 woman. The " whoof ! " of the bear had knocked him over, 

 but the animal had no idea of attacking. Before I 

 could fire, he had turned round and was off like the wind 



