"GHOOMING" FOR BEARS 85 



is seen. It is lowered, raised to what seems the correct 

 level, and for the second time that night out darts the 

 yellow flame of cordite. 



The cracking explosion is followed instantly by an 

 appalling uproar! We "stand by" for developments 

 and a tree-trunk is a comforting thing in a way ! There 

 is a murderous disturbance going on under the mhowa 

 tree ; rollings about, crashings of timber, and a most heart- 

 rending vociferation in which all the bears of Makla 

 and they are not few seem to be taking part. The 

 very trees above us are crashing and whooping! It is 

 a colony of langtir monkeys that, disturbed by the terri- 

 fying din below them, are cursing and leaping about aloft, 

 demoniacal figures looming black and spectral against the 

 yellow disc of the moon. Suddenly the yelling ceases, but 

 the dry leaves are still being scattered in all directions. 

 There is a " Umph-a-umph-a ! " heard retreating rapidly; 

 and not long afterwards two dark objects, one of them 

 coughing as it goes, are seen to trundle across an open 

 space in the trees fifty yards away too quick for a shot. 



It would be useless to buoy up the reader with further 

 hopes. A search revealed no defunct bear. There had been 

 but two, and the wounded one for the time at least had 

 got away! Wearily we descended the hillside to the 

 grassland, and resumed our way. 



At the farthest end of the night's beat, where the little 

 forest road begins its descent to the deep Sipna valley, we 

 halted, and raised the water-bottle ; and a sandwich was 

 followed by a cheroot. Our late failure with the bears had 

 somewhat damped the spirits and caused a sensation of 

 gloom to pervade the night's wanderings this indeed was 

 ghoom-ghdm ; and the one redeeming feature of the proceed- 

 ings was that my shikari orderly was not here to exasperate 

 still further with his lantern-jawed expression of hopeless 

 resignation. Too old a bird to be cast down even by an 

 unusual run of bad luck, if left to myself, the despairing 



