240 THE RIFLE AND HOUND TN CEYLON, chap. x. 



path, through a tolerably open forest at the foot of a 

 range of rocky mountains, when Banda, who was some 

 paces in advance, suddenly sprang back again, crying, 

 ' Wallaha ! wallaha ! ' (Bears ! bears !) We were off 

 our horses in a moment, but I fell sprawling upon my 

 back, my leg being so powerless and numbed that I 

 could not feel when I touched the ground. I recovered 

 myself just in time to see a bear waddling along 

 through the jungle, and I pushed after him in pursuit 

 at my best pace. V. had disappeared in the jungle in 

 pursuit of another bear, and I presently heard two or 

 three shots. In the meantime my game had slackened 

 speed to a careless kind of swaggering walk ; and the 

 underwood being rather thick, I was determined to 

 get close to him before I fired, as I knew that I could 

 not follow him far, and my success would therefore 

 depend upon the first shot. I overtook him in a few 

 moments, and I was following within a foot of his tail, 

 waiting for a chance for a clear shot between his 

 shoulders, as the thick underwood parted above his 

 back, when he suddenly sprang round, and with a 

 fierce roar, he leaped upon the muzzle of the gun. I 

 fired both barrels \t"> him as he threw his whole 

 weight against it, and I rolled him over in a confused 

 cloud of smoke and crackling bushes. In a moment 

 he was on his legs again, but going off through the 

 thick underwood at a pace that in my helpless state 

 soon left me far behind. His state must have been 



