i86 CASUALS IN THE CAUCASUS 



thing ! — he reckoned without our modern rifles. He 

 faced no Daghestani muzzle-loader. 



Cecily dropped the gallant creature with a well- 

 placed bullet in the chest, which, raking through, 

 despatched him at once. He stopped all movement 

 almost with a click, like a clockwork toy, falling just 

 fifty yards from us. We paced the distance almost at 

 once. 



We pulled the hunched mass straight and admired 

 him as he lay extended, noting the difference from other 

 ursine acquaintances, which were very marked as 

 regards his kinsmen of Alaska, to whom indeed this 

 grey long-snouted beast seemed scarce allied. 



Why, I wonder, is his snout so inordinately long ? 

 He does but little root-grubbing. Nature is never 

 purposeless, and there must be a reason. For the time 

 of year the coat was in fair condition, and I can imagine 

 it in winter as of a beautiful silvery grey. Now it was 

 merely dirty brown-grey, and all the hairs tipped with 

 darker brown as though singed. His thick neck — 

 what little neck a bear possesses is never very swan- 

 like — was ringed with a band of whitish fur, very much 

 shorter than the rest of the pelage. 



The prize was an old male, with great hollows 

 beneath his eyes, and worn teeth and claws. I saw he 

 was ever a fighter, his skin was so deeply scored, and 

 his still face bore the ridged seams and scars of many 

 a battle, one cicatrice being of very recent date. 



The skinning and beheading was before us, a big 

 proposition, as we had nothing but the most inadequate 

 knives, Ali having gone off with the real skinning tools. 



