271 SHIKAR SKETCHES. 



with ears well laid back and tail aloft, pursued 

 the enemy at a long trot, every now and then 

 striking at it with one of his forefeet. 



1 Another case was nearly as illustrative of the 

 faint-heartedness of the animal. Shortly after 

 daybreak I had fired at a bear, that died almost 

 immediately. Ere long a large hysena blundered 

 up the same path the bear had taken. I did not 

 wish to waste a shot on him, and he stumbled on 

 for some distance in the vacant-looking, undecided 

 way of his race ; suddenly, having caught the 

 scent of blood or dead flesh, he became a differ- 

 ent and rather fine-looking creature, as he rushed 

 with head and tail well up the latter waving al- 

 most in the style of a foxhound's stern while 

 drawing direct to the spot, and in his hungry 

 haste he jumped on a stone beside which lay the 

 dead bear, and almost on the carcase. All at 

 once matters changed, and I shall not soon forget 

 the horror-struck look of the hyaena as, stiffened 

 as if by magic, too frightened to move back or 

 forward, and with every bristle erect like a wor- 

 ried cat, he stood quivering over the body. Al- 

 though I had spared him before, I could not 

 resist taking his worthless life as he stood. 



' That was a red-letter day, one of those that re. 

 ward an Indian sportsman for his numberless unre- 

 corded blank excursions. The time was January, 



