REMINISCENCES OF JUNGLYPUR 215 



I was afraid that we should be detected if I attempted 

 to surround the little ravine into which he had been 

 marked, and once disturbed, the thick jungle was all in 

 favour of the beast getting clear away ; so, placing men 

 in trees to watch the face of the hill and signal any 

 premature move on Bhdlus part, I moved off alone and 

 stalked the ndla long and carefully up-wind. On arriving 

 there I found that by going very cautiously along the 

 bank and peeping over at intervals it was possible to 

 examine the ravine fairly well ; but it appeared to be 

 deserted. Just then a little puff of wind struck my back, 

 and, passing on, appeared to rustle the fallen leaves among 

 the boulders in the dry bed of the watercourse. The 

 slight rustling continued. Then, very slowly, one of those 

 big black boulders in the shade of the bank stirred in its 

 bed of dry leaves, and became a bear that moved a step 

 forward and wagged its dirty-white snout from side to side 

 with a puzzled expression. 



Crack! went the '303 from behind the trunk of a shelter- 

 ing tree, and a tuft of black hair flew from his back! 

 Crack ! again, as he sprawled about the ndla and passed 

 behind a bush. Next moment a black hair trunk, with a 

 whitish sort of label on the front of it, appeared, violently 

 struggling up the bank towards me, still in silence. A 

 third time the little rifle spat; and now the hair trunk 

 rolled back amid an awful outcry, "Whoo! whoo! whoo!" 

 But the well-known sound is well-nigh indescribable. An 

 attempt at it might be, say, a blend of passionately 

 gurgled yodel and the soulful notes of a dog with an ear 

 for music. A few more ululations of the kind that are, 

 unfortunately, too funny to reach one's heart, and Bhdlti 

 lay still in the ndla below. Once more had he become 

 a black boulder in its bed of leaves ! 



The men now arrived, and he who had done the scouting 

 was pouring a stream of voluble abuse over the shaggy 

 hide. I pricked up my ears. 



