TIGERLAND 



as I was anxious to obtain a good specimen of the last, I 

 fired into the moving grass, aiming well forward on the 

 off-chance of a hit. The animal made no sound, and 

 thinking I had missed, I was about to fire again, when the 

 next moment, to my surprise, there was a violent commotion 

 in the grass lasting for some seconds and then all movement 

 ceased. The beast, whatever it might be, was evidently 

 dead, but to make sure, the elephant was ordered to pull 

 aside the grass, an order which, after some expostulation, 

 it obeyed, exposing to view a patch of jet-black fur, 

 obviously no part of deer or pigmy-hog ! 



Wondering then what this hairy thing could be, for 

 only a portion of it was visible from the elephant, I got 

 down to examine it more closely. Then, on pulling more 

 of the grass away, I found, to my indescribable amazement 

 and delight, that the animal I had killed was an enormous 

 black bear ! The bullet had entered at the base of the 

 skull causing almost instantaneous death, thus accounting 

 for the silence of the animal on receiving the shot. From 

 the condition of the teeth it was evident the beast was very 

 old and possibly, too, deaf, or it would otherwise have heard 

 the elephants approaching. The carcass measured 6 feet 

 7 inches from nose to tip of tail, practically a record for 

 that part of the country, hence I had good reason to con- 

 gratulate myself on this extraordinary fluke, especially as 

 the jungle was not one likely to hold a bear ! We had 

 some difficulty in hoisting the huge body on to the pad 

 elephant, but with the aid of its companion and a rope 

 finally succeeded, and continuing our interrupted journey, 

 soon arrived at our destination. 



The rest of that day was passed in examining witnesses 

 in the case, and a mass of evidence was obtained, a tenth 

 of which, if true, would have been sufficient to hang half 

 the people in the village. Fortunately for them, however, 

 most of it, on being sifted, proved to be absolutely false, 

 and while seated smoking after I had concluded the day's 

 work, I could not help wondering to myself whether 

 Ananias or any of his descendants had ever visited these 

 parts ! 



Next day, having completed the investigation, without 

 arriving any nearer the truth, I was preparing to return 

 258 



