MORE DAYS OF ROAMING AND SPORT 297 



dim light, but our leopard had crept away to other 

 hunting-grounds. We should have been in a tight fix 

 if he had thought to spring out on us, for the brambles 

 and the thorn were thickly entwined. Every rustle 

 brought up my rifle. We persevered for an hour or 

 more, and then, disappointed, returned to bed. 



Inspecting the place of the sounds next morning we 

 were very excited to find the unmistakable spoor of 

 a leopard ; a well-marked trail ran from the shadowy 

 unknown depth to a nullah where some water lodged. 

 All this more than fired our ardour. Alas ! a trap sent for 

 from the castle failed to snare our beast, and, though 

 we sat up all night over a most attractive kill, we never 

 saw or heard our " barse " again. 



Everywhere about our camp signs of bears were 

 plentiful ; the wild orchard of scarlet plums, apples, 

 walnuts, and berries of many varieties allured them. 

 Bruin was wise to keep within the precincts of so 

 well-filled a larder. As we passed along the " trapin- 

 kas," or game trails, we came on their beds thick with 

 moulted hairs, and if these were not sufficient evidence 

 our dogs — of which we had two couple — supplied the 

 lack. They barked and barked furiously o' nights. 



One evening as the shadows drew about I was 

 making my way back to camp after a depressingly 

 blank afternoon, when, with that sudden spurt of 

 generosity peculiar to Nature, a charming picture was 

 vouchsafed to me, the rarest and most irresistible of 

 wild silhouettes. A small black bear was diligently 

 fishing for his supper. Not with the purposeful 

 deliberation of his big Alaskan cousin who wades in 



