228 MODERN PIG-STICKING 



the bear to reach his hocks when he speared the bear 

 overhand in the face, and then away went Speckles 

 down the rocky slope, and I after him. We then collected 

 the beaters and other heat, and drove the bear out again ; 

 he got a long start and took a very bad line, but we hurried 

 him for two miles though none of the five horses were for 

 it. Robinson, R.F.A., however, got in one good spear 

 by a clever ruse. The bear was travelling along a track 

 with high bushes on both sides, so that often the horses 

 could not see the bear ; taking advantage of this Robinson 

 jumped over a bush where he hoped the bear was, guessed 

 right, and got in a spear. We then lost all trace for the 

 day. That night at the Headquarters Mess any one who had 

 had a horse guaranteed staunch to bear could have had his 

 own price for it. A dozen or more bloodthirsty men turned 

 out next day on all sorts of horses. Two owners were very 

 confident, Geddes on a very big T.B. English pony mare, 

 and Roach, R.A.M.C. (a very keen man), on a very high- 

 caste Arab which was the general favourite. The shikaries 

 reported the bear as marked down, and we found him at 

 once, but he was very stuffy, and though most of us had 

 some sort of chances at him during the day no one had 

 a good chance but Roach, who nearly wept because his 

 Arab funked it. About midday a beater got a nasty 

 punctured wound on the temple from a blow from the bear's 

 paw. We then stopped beating and decided to try and 

 finish the job on foot. I was chosen as tracker, and so had 

 to lead the way ; and it is the only time in my life that I 

 have felt pleased at being unable to follow a blood trail as 

 it was mostly crawling under bushes or rock, and though 

 I knew every man behind me was all for it, still it seemed 

 to me the best place was behind. Neither, sad to relate, 

 could I make anything of the tracking and it got dark. 

 Next day the gunners all had to work, and my men could 

 not find the bear as he was dead and was found many days 

 afterwards quite rotten. The mauled beater spent ten 

 days under Roach's care, and had a splendid time. 



The conclusion I drew from this hunt was that the 

 chances of getting a horse staunch to bear were almost 



