SOME BEES 155 



for us, so we went straight on at once into the jungle. 

 We had several beats and got several bears, but there 

 was only one worth telling about, the first one that 

 we got. 



The place to beat was a widish valley covered with 

 trees, and steep rocky hills or banks on each side : 

 a ready-made and first-class place for beating. From 

 the top of the rocks the men had an excellent view 

 of any animal there might be there, and also were 

 out of harm's way; while only a few would be 

 required to keep along the bottom. 



The places we were to sit in were arranged very 

 quickly, and when I climbed up into my tree I had 

 no notion of where Louisa was sitting, except that 

 she was on my right-hand side. At first it seemed 

 as if there was nothing in the beat, as the shouting 

 coolies were getting near; but then appeared in 

 front of me a fine big bear, trotting out from behind 

 some trees. I waited to let him get nearer, as he 

 was coming straight for my tree, and fired ; he spun 

 round and, at the second shot, fell over. He was 

 not done for by any means, but jumped up quickly 

 and went on through the bushes in Louisa's direc- 

 tion. I heard her fire two shots and the bear turned 

 and went back towards the beaters. They made a 

 tremendous noise all togethe*46&d managed to turn 

 him again, and he cantered heavily round in a circle, 

 going back towards Louisa. I got a distant cross 

 shot at him, but missed, I think r and- saw nothing 

 more for a few minutes. The bear had gone straight 

 towards Louisa's tree, and then I heard a " click, 

 click " : she, in her excitement, had cocked her 



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