Bears. 211 



We had ridden for some distance upon an elephant 

 path, through a tolerably open forest at the foot of a 

 range of rocky mountains, when Banda, who was some 

 paces in advance, suddenly sprang back again, crying, 

 "Wallaha! wallaha !" (bears! bears!) We were off 

 our horses in a moment, but I fell sprawling upon my 

 back, my leg being so powerless and numbed that I 

 could not feel when I touched the ground. I recovered 

 myself just in time to see a bear waddling along through 

 the jungle, and I pushed after him in pursuit at my 

 best pace. V. had disappeared in the jungle in pursuit 

 of another bear, and I presently heard two or three 

 shots. In the mean time my game had slackened speed 

 to a careless kind of swaggering walk ; and the under- 

 wood being rather thick, I was determined to get close 

 to him before I fired, as I knew that I could not follow 

 him far, and my success would therefore depend upon 

 the first shot. I overtook him in a few moments, and 

 I was following within a foot of his tail, waiting for a 

 chance for a clear shot between his shoulders, as the 

 thick underwood parted above his back, when he sud- 

 denly sprung round, and with a fierce roar he leaped 

 upon the muzzle of the gun. I fired both barrels into 

 him as he threw his whole weight against it, and I 

 rolled him over in a confused cloud of smoke and crack- 

 ling bushes. In a moment he was on his legs again, 

 but going off through the thick underwood at a pace 

 that in my helpless state soon left me far behind. His 

 state must have been far from enviable, as he left por- 

 tions of his entrails all along his track. V. had killed 

 his bear ; he weighed about two hundred pounds, and 

 measured fourteen inches round the arm, without his 

 hide. 



