NEARLY BURNT ALIVE 499 



but to give us ample time to take up our positions. The 

 grass was very heavy, and we had to force our way through 

 it, so our progress was very slow. Before we got much more 

 than half-way, we found a line of fire, half-a-mile in breadth, 

 bearing down upon us at a terrific pace ; sauve qui peut was 

 the order of the day. We knew these hills were full of hama- 

 dryads, and other venomous snakes, bears and tigers, but there 

 was no time for picking one's way. We tore frantically over 

 the top of the plateau, down a steep declivity, and sought 

 shelter in the bed of a rivulet over which creepers and other 

 plants met. We were only just in time, the flames were upon 

 us and passed overhead, setting on fire the drier of the 

 creepers overhead. It did not last above five minutes, but 

 those minutes were to us like half-an-hour, as we were in a 

 veritable oven, and half-roasted and suffocated before we 

 could emerge. We took up fresh positions, and at a given 

 signal this time the firing recommenced. I shot a fine stag 

 with my "577 Express, and then finding a cleared spot on a 

 conical hill, I took up my position there, and the grass was 

 set on fire at the bottom all round. The volumes of smoke 

 were dense ; fortunately I had undergone smoking out many 

 a time in the fires in Prome and in the jungles in Burma, 

 where three times I was all but burnt to death, so I could 

 stand it ; but my two gun-bearers could not, and I told them 

 to lie down, as heated air always ascends. I saw two bears 

 on the move for fully half-an-hour before they came my way ; 

 they tried to escape by various routes known to themselves, 

 but were met everywhere by a fiery furnace, so they had to 

 make for the only space free from fire, and that was where I 

 was stationed. I rolled the largest, the leader, over, and was 

 going to fire at the other with the left barrel when the first one 

 picked himself up, so I put the remaining shell behind the 

 shoulder and he dropped dead. Before I could seize my 

 second gun, the smaller ran back towards the circuit of fire. 

 I knew there was no escape that way, so leisurely reloaded 

 and waited for him to return ; but I never saw him again, nor 

 did any of the beaters who were behind the fire. What became 

 of him I can't think. I beat these hills for two days with but 

 indifferent luck : one gun was not sufficient ; there was no 



