246 BRUIN REMONSTRATES. 



I did not, however, feel so kindly disposed towards a big 

 brown bear whose repose we rather abruptly disturbed. The 

 brute turned round and looked at us so saucily that I could 

 not resist the temptation to put a bullet through his shaggy 

 hide, even at the risk of disturbing markhor. And the loud 

 angry language he made use of on being struck, as it echoed 

 and re-echoed through the rocky glen we were in, was, I am 

 sure, quite enough to strike terror into any other denizens the 

 place might have contained. So certain did I feel of his being 

 done for, that I did not think it necessary to add to the 

 rumpus he was making by firing another shot, as with much 

 difficulty he struggled up towards the top of a rise just above 

 him. Over this he nevertheless contrived to scramble, and 

 although we followed on his blood-tracks for a long distance, 

 we failed to come up with him. Bruin is an uncommonly 

 hard customer to deal with when not struck in the right place, 

 and that place I evidently had missed. 



It now seemed as though the good luck we had hitherto 

 enjoyed were about to desert us, for the last day we spent on 

 this ground was fraught with " grief." 



Early in the day, as we were clambering across a break- 

 neck place, I was startled at hearing a sharp exclamation, as 

 if caused by pain, from Hatha, who was following at a short 

 distance behind. In climbing along the rugged face of the 

 steep slope we were traversing, he had in some way managed 

 to wrench his shoulder, which, being weak from former dis- 

 locations, had now slipped out again. As he objected to the 

 rough treatment adopted in my case, there was nothing for it 

 but to sling up his arm with a turban and return to camp. The 

 poor fellow bore the pain he must have suffered during our 

 long and rough trudge most pluckily. On reaching the tents, 

 my cook, in whose surgical skill he placed more confidence 

 than in mine, at once took him in hand, and, aided by the 

 patient's own directions, soon replaced the dislocated joint. 



Some men who had gone off in the early morning to search 



