32 Leaves from an Indian Jungle \ 



It appeared that there were some caves below those rocks, 

 I then went cautiously forward, and found myself on top of 

 a long terrace of perpendicular sandstone, about twenty 

 feet high, running along the face of the hill. At the foot 

 of this cliff came a narrow ledge, and below this again a 

 sloping face of smooth rock that, becoming ever steeper, at 

 length dropped over the edge of a cliff. At the bottom of 

 this lower cliff was a mass of big boulders, and thorny jungle 

 crept up thus far from the surrounding woods. 



I had previous experience of she-bears, which I had 

 known to come viciously charging up fifty yards of rocky 

 hillside for nothing at all but the sound of a human voice 

 so I stood quietly there to elaborate some scheme by which 

 the old lady might be " drawn " without compromising 

 anybody's safety. As I did so, I heard a bear snuffling and 

 grunting, about a hundred yards off, nearer the foot of the 

 hill; so I ran on tiptoe along the rocks to find that the beast, 

 which had evidently become suspicious, was making off into 

 the jungled plain below. I followed the noises for about 

 half an hour without coming up with the bear, then lost 

 them, and returned to the hill, rating the shikaris for not 

 having marked the game down with greater accuracy. 



Since only one bear had been seen, and the hill and caves 

 had been watched from before dawn, it was natural to con- 

 clude that that bear was the one I had heard going away, and 

 that the caves were vacant ; so I came climbing up in a 

 slanting direction and joined the men; after which we all 

 clambered on to the narrow ledge before described, and 

 began looking for marks along it, out of curiosity to see the 

 place. 



I had quite given up all hope of any sport that morning, 

 and was ruminating on the shockingly gameless condi- 

 tion of the country in which I had already wasted a useless 



