i84 CASUALS IN THE CAUCASUS 



" Into the light ! " I whispered. " We're done if he 

 catches us here." 



Nimbly we skipped into the broad, open nave, 

 where the sunlight flooded down in slanting shafts. 



The High Priest followed us. We heard the soft 

 scraping of his claws, and the deep intake of his breath. 

 That alone would have betrayed his kind. All the 

 wild bears I've met breathe so, inflating the lungs with 

 noticeable effort, whilst the deflation is more or less 

 noiseless. No other creature either has so deliberate a 

 walk — so peculiarly regular. Every now and then the 

 periodic snuffle of inquiry reached us. There was no 

 doubt as to the nature of the animal. 



Standing together in the brilliant light we must have 

 been the cynosure of Bruin's eyes ; but we were not 

 embarrassed, for there was a good clear space about us. 

 Ali had disappeared. Whither he went or how we 

 could not guess, neither did we care. The sense of being 

 stalked was on us, a grand primeval " defend yourself " 

 sort of feeling, which makes wits sharp and instincts 

 keen. 



In hurried whispers we decided to take no undue 

 chances. We knew so little about the grey bears ; few 

 people do, save the natives, and their yarns are hardly 

 reassuring. Neither of us had ever been so " boxed 

 in " on any previous shoot. Dangers seem halved in the 

 open desert. In a cave of the winds like this in which 

 it was difficult to hear, and impossible to see into 

 corners, the game was too much to the enemy. Chances 

 should be even or slightly against one, not very much 

 so. 



