230 Incidents of Foreign Field Sport. 



my gun, intercepted bruin en route to his den, and 

 sent a heavy ball through him, and eventually finished 

 him. The other bear escaped ; the troopers pressed 

 him too hard, so he doubled back and got to his den 

 before I could reach him. I might have bagged both 

 animals had I not been drawn away by the false 

 alarm, for they broke cover exactly where I had 

 taken my stand. 



' On May 6th I moved to Purkeer, and pitched 

 camp in the mango tope. Went to the Black Hill, 

 which lies east of the village, and soon after arriving 

 there, saw a bear walking about. I followed him up- 

 hill towards his den, and when about half way up,, 

 there sat bruin, about eighty yards off, looking at 

 me ! Fired my two-ouncer at him, and the ball, 

 entering his right eye, shattered his head to pieces. 

 He fell dead, without a groan even, at the very 

 entrance of his den. He proved to be a large male. 

 After this I sent Akbur Ali to the top of the hill, 

 where he saw six or seven bears in the bushes. I 

 came upon two more of these animals while walking- 

 round the place, but could not get a shot. I remained 

 on the watch, trying to circumvent them in the moon- 

 light, but I did not succeed, owing to the rocks which 

 shadowed the ground on every side, although I heard 

 the objects of my search growling, so must have been 

 close to them. I got back to the huts at 9 P.M. 



" The next day I went to the hills west of Purkeer. 

 Towards daylight, I rode quietly on to Trooper's Hill 

 (as I have called this clump of rocks), and had just 

 reached it, when a large bear was seen by the markers. 

 I gave chase and soon speared him. He fought 

 gallantly, but after a furious combat and several fine 



