282 WILD MEN AND WILD BEASTS. 



a couple of bears, which had been seen to enter one of a num- 

 ber of steep and narrow ravines running down to the Mhye. 

 They were soon roused, and one coming out on our side 

 was shot by Bradford and me. The other was wounded by 

 Ward, and went off pursued by my men of the Bheel corps. 

 We ran up to an elevated spot, from which we got a 

 good view of the ground, and could see the bear crossing the 

 ravines with the men in full cry. Now and then a shot was 

 fired, but the bear still kept ahead, and gained what seemed to 

 be a patch of thicker jungle. Here, I suppose, he began to 

 give in, for we saw the men dive into the bush, and soon 

 after heard several shots. Presently they all came out into 

 an open space, bearing the slain beast, after the manner of a 

 number of ants removing the body of a defunct wasp. 



Two other bears were marked next morning near the same 

 place. They had lain up among masses of rock in some open 

 ground between the ravines. They were dislodged by a volley 

 of stones, and bowled over as they went off. One, a large 

 male, attempted to charge back, but the shooting was too good 

 for him, and he succumbed. Hitherto we had heard of no 

 tigers, and none of our party having hunted this ground 

 before, we feared that we should get none. But, as we sat at 

 breakfast on the third day, two of our men came in ; the one 

 reported two bears marked down in the ravines beyond the 

 Mhye, the other the death of one of our buffaloes, which had 

 been killed by a couple of tigers in a ravine about three miles 

 to the northward. 



Eefreshed by this intelligence, we were soon ready, and 

 having sent Ward's elephant and the guns ahead, we followed 

 on horseback, commencing the day's proceedings with the 

 nobler game. The tigers were said to be in or about a small 

 dry river-bed, fifteen paces in width, with steep clay banks 



