BEARS & WATER-HOLE SHOOTING 



rain to some parks for a shot at deer, and Garrick had 

 bagged a small buck there, some of the meat of which 

 two men who were with us were carrying back for food. 

 We were returning in the afternoon, soaked but satisfied, 

 along the Kauduluwewa-Alut Oya road, when I, being a 

 little in front, caught sight of a black object in the road 

 ahead of us where the ground was a bit uneven. 



I ran forward for a look, and at once saw it was a 

 bear, so turned round and beckoned to Garrick, who, with 



the men, was wondering what the I was after ! He 



came along and simply gasped with joy and surprise when 

 he saw the animal, being his first sight of a bear, so down 

 we squatted out of sight, and waited for it to arrive. It 

 never saw us, but just as it appeared in our full sight 

 it made to turn into the forest on our left, so Garrick 

 fired at it, hitting it in the left hind-quarter, whereupon, 

 as they sometimes do when wounded, with an angry 

 snort it bit savagely at the place, and I fired at the same 

 time, catching it, as we afterwards found, fair in the chest 

 and damaging the lungs, which accounted for its absolute 

 silence in after events. 



It then disappeared in the forest, and we stood waiting, 

 knowing well that the Alut Oya in flood ran parallel to us 

 on that side not more than 30 yards from the road we were 

 on. A few minutes' waiting in dead silence, there being 

 no sound from the bear, was broken by a shout of " Here 

 it comes ! " from our two men, who were about 20 yards 

 behind us, and sure enough the bear made its appearance 

 at the edge of the forest close to them, only to be saluted 

 by another shot from each of us, which drove it back again. 

 A long silence ensued, so I went into the jungle, which 

 was there pretty clear of undergrowth, but could neither 

 see nor hear anything, which made me guess the bear was 



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