io8 RIFLE AND ROMANCE 



step in retrogression when a horrible subterranean dis- 

 turbance occurred in the depths of the cavern we had 

 just left. 



This accelerated our movements somewhat ; but they 

 were as nothing compared to the rapidity of the eruption 

 that was going on behind us, as the bear came yelling and 

 scrambling out of the innermost portion of the cavern, and 

 in less than no time a disgusting outcry belched forth from 

 the dark opening in the face of sheer rock, and a furious 

 bellowing announced that the brute was on us. So close 

 were we to our little haven round the corner that my own 

 man had already arrived ; but for those in rear of him 

 time was up! The G6nd leapt like any ape up some narrow 

 cleft just ahead of me ; while for me there was nothing but 

 a swift whip round to face this horrid denouement, my rifle 

 not even permitted to reach my shoulder. To right a blank 

 wall of smooth cliffside ; to left a swift descent to the un- 

 known over the edge of a slope scarcely less sudden than 

 that of an ordinary church steeple ; and in front a raging, 

 roaring mass of black hair, shooting towards me with the 

 speed of a runaway motor-car. 



Bang ! goes my rifle right into and touching the brute's 

 back and next moment I am enjoying a strange, slow- 

 moving nightmare, one of the most vivid of its kaleidoscopic 

 memories being the peculiarly smooth-brushed appearance 

 of Melursus' forehead as her jaws close on my right thigh, 

 and seem to remain there for ages ! 



Then, curiously enough, I am upside down ; and every- 

 thing whirls round and round in a freak-like dance ! 

 Through clenched teeth I remember breathing some 

 desperate remark, such as "Done for, this journey!" 

 " Booked all the way ! " as with fingers gripped tight in 

 that harsh long black hair, or clutching with tearing nails 

 at elusive rock-slopes, we bump and whirl swiftly down- 

 wards instinctive ideas of the cliff that awaited us darting 

 through my whirring brain. 



