552 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA. 



four bears all at once, which I had come upon near the high 

 road between Jubbulpiir and Damoh,. feeding under a mhowd 

 tree. I had two guns, and hit three of them ; but had to 

 bolt from the fourth, who chased me about a hundred yards, 

 and then dived into a ravine. Eeturning to the scene of 

 action, I found one sitting at the foot of a tree, bewailing his 

 fate in most melancholy whines, and finished him with a ball 

 in the ear. The other two had gone down the slope of a hill, 

 and I started off to head them. The ground was rocky and 

 very slippery, and I had not gone far when I fell, my rifle 

 sliding away down the hill, to the considerable damage of its 

 stock and barrels. I picked myself up, however, and by dint 

 of hard running, arrived above and parallel to the bears, and 

 commenced a running fight with them, in which my chances 

 would have been a good deal better, had I had a breech 

 instead of a muzzle loader. As it was, I had to keep one 

 barrel unfired in case of a charge, and peg away at long 

 intervals with the other. At last, one of them came round 

 up the hill at me, rising on his hind legs, pulling down 

 branches, and dancing and spluttering in so ludicrous a 

 manner, that I could scarcely shoot for laughter. When I 

 did, he got both barrels through the chest, and subsided. 

 I never got the other, as it had sufficient headway to escape 

 into some hollow rocks near the river-side. A wounded bear 

 will often charge with great determination. He comes on 

 like a great cannon ball ; and the popular idea, that he will 

 rise on his hind legs in time to give a shot at the " horse- 

 shoe " mark on his chest, to penetrate which is fatal, is, as a 

 rule, a mistake. But a shot, when he is ten or fifteen yards 

 off, will nearly always turn, if it does not kill him. The 

 most successful way of getting bears is to get up very early, 

 and go up to some commanding position, that overlooks the 



