112 RIFLE AND ROMANCE 



my bed almost dropped me at the sharp expletive which 

 rose involuntarily to the sky. 



All next day was spent at a roadside bungalow: the 

 wounds had glazed over and swollen, and it was necessary 

 to open them up and dress them again, which at last I forced 

 myself to do with my penknife. At night came torture at 

 the hands of the little native assistant-surgeon summoned 

 to treat me. A night of morphia-induced slumber, and 

 twenty-five miles more, on the bed, brought me to a 

 small civil station, a friend in need, and comparative 

 rest comparative, for here came chloroform and an opera- 

 tion. Though a mauling by a bear is not so dangerous as 

 one inflicted by a carnivorous animal, there was consider- 

 able apprehension of pyaemia setting in ; but the fact of 

 being in hard condition averted that dangerous compli- 

 cation. 



In one single bite the bear, seizing the leg sidewise, 

 had made all her four canine teeth almost meet. In that 

 wound practically all the muscles of the lower part of the 

 front of the thigh were involved ; and a considerable 

 portion of them, forming a dangerous flap, had to be 

 subsequently removed by the surgeon's knife. One fang 

 penetrated to and almost severed the very tubing in which 

 runs the femoral artery. 



Two months on one's back, surrounded by hospital 

 smells, afforded scope for thought ; and in reviewing the 

 affair the following points suggested themselves. 



In the first place, the unlucky position that placed me 

 so completely at that bear's disposal was one of sheer 

 deception. 



Secondly, as the bear had some yards in which to get 

 up a rattling pace and a sharp curve round which to 

 approach me, completely under cover until within a few 

 feet, it was impossible to stop her in time. Indeed, had 

 I brained her, she must have got me once, somewhere, 

 being straight head-on to me and coming so fast. The 



