32 THE OUT-STATION; OR, 



legs, that we have collected in our way through the 

 jungle, when a cry of " The bear ! the bear !" from 

 the reconnoitering party certifies that I was not far 

 wrong in my surmises, and on arriving at the spot, 

 we are directed to an opening in the rocks, formed 

 by two masses of stone, having fallen against each 

 other, apparently scarcely large enough to admit a 

 cat, when on applying our eyes to the aperture, they 

 encounter those of the quarry, glowing like two illu- 

 minated saucers at the extreme end of the den. 



The first question that naturally suggests itself is 

 how to get at the beast. 



To shoot it " in its house," would be to lose it alto- 

 gether. We must persuade it to egress so draw 

 your ramrod, and whilst I probe it in some tender 

 part, you stand by to shoot it as it comes out. Now, 

 then, prong ! prong ! prong ! but it won't budge 

 an inch a sulky growl is all it deigns to vouchsafe 

 us. Ten to one it is a lady-bear with cubs ! 



A sudden inspiration seizes us, viz., to make a 

 monster " black devil" (the component parts of which 

 Satanic preparation are gunpowder and water, as 

 every schoolboy knows, rolled into dabs between the 

 finger and thumb, whereon the effect of fire is a great 

 fizzing, a tremendous shower of sparks, and a most 

 abominable stench), and to hurl it into the retreat of 

 the bear ; then seizing our guns, we await the de- 

 nouement. 



Presently out pops the snout of a youthful member 



