BAGGING A BROWN BEAR. 65 



a brown bear had been feeding could be traced through the 

 thin covering of snow. We examined the hill side carefully, 

 but nothing was in sight, and, as it was rapidly getting 

 dark, and we were a long way from our tents, we turned 

 to retrace our steps homeward. We had gone about a mile 

 and got back in the forest, when Khaira appeared, running 

 in the distance, and making signs to us to stop. We had 

 sent him to reconnoitre a little lower down the mountain, 

 and he came back to say that a brown bear was feeding 

 not five hundred yards below where we had seen the marks. 

 We went back as cpiickly as possible, for the night was 

 fast closing in, and the falling snow made it very difficult 

 to distinguish objects even a few yards off. Fortunately, 

 we were above the bear, and the wind was blowing from 

 beneath, so we got to within about forty yards of him 

 without much trouble or loss of time. Even at that dis- 

 tance it was difficult to make him out, and when I put up 

 my rifle it was too dark to see the foresight against his 

 shoulder. Just at that moment he raised his head and 

 looked towards us, and the movement rendered it easier to 

 make him out, and exposed his front and chest. I took a 

 quick shot, and he rolled over without a groan. Rahman 

 was more careful on this occasion, and threw a stone or 

 two before going very near. But the bear never stirred, 

 and lay, a lifeless mass of brown fur, on the snow. The 

 hollow express bullet had made a fearful hole in his chesl . 



