166 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



bullet struck her somewhat higher than I had intended, going 

 bang through her, ripping up the muscles of her back, and 

 bringing her to the heraldic position of 'ours couchant.' 1 The 

 novelty of the situation, my inability to see my companions? 

 and my ignorance in concluding that one shot is ever sufficient, 

 except in a vital spot (it is not always so then), deterred me from 

 firing again, as I ought to have done ; and in the exuberance 

 of my spirits I was about to run in and ' put her in the bag,' 

 when she got up, and, moving a pace or two forward, received 

 her quietus through the heart at the hands of M. Dumba, who 

 was only a few yards off. 



Immediately a bear is defunct a curious scene takes place. 

 The beaters run furiously together, all radiant with joy and 

 streaming with perspiration. Many of them cross themselves 

 devoutly, and sing a melancholy ditty descriptive of the death 

 of their enemy. As every male peasant in Russia carries an 

 axe, and has a long scarf bound round his greasy sheep-skin 

 coat, in less than no time a young tree is cut down and 

 fashioned into a convenient pole, and the bear's legs being 

 made fast over it with one or more scarves, the triumphal pro- 

 cession staggers through the snow towards the nearest sledge. 

 This, our first bear, weighed 5^ poods, i.e. about 15 stone, and 

 was light in colour, as bears generally are in the province 

 of Novgorod. The heaviest bear shot during the expedition 

 weighed 6| poods, or about 260 Ibs. (40 Russian pounds go 

 to the pood). 



One word of advice in conclusion : when a bear is crossing 

 in front of you, there is no time to lose if you have if only for 

 a second or two the clear space between you and him, which 

 you ought to try for. Two seconds before he ' opens,' he will 

 be sheltered from your fire in the thicket to your right, and in 

 two more, if you hesitate, he will be out of range again in the 

 trees to your left ; and if he is coming straight to you, aiming 

 is not as easy as may be supposed. The poor brute goes 

 floundering along, with a pitching motion not unlike that of a 

 waterlogged ship in a heavy sea. At one moment he is crawling 



