228 IN THE LAND OP THE BORA. 



Lieutenant- General Hoffmeister, began to handle 

 his rifle suggestively, and I rose noiselessly from 

 my seat to stand behind my tree. Just then, to 

 my great surprise, an Express cracked twice on 

 the extreme right of our ridge. (I may say here 

 it turned out to be No. 8, who, having had the 

 game in sight for some five furlongs, could not 

 resist the temptation to a game of long bowls, 

 whereby he did no good, and risked doing a great 

 deal of harm.) 



Immediately after, I saw a bear coming at a 

 hand canter up the sheep-track I have described. 

 Now, this path led directly to No. 4 post ; and 

 perhaps, strictly speaking, I should have left the 

 shot to him. Be that as it may, the fact remains 

 that as Bruin passed a clear space eighty yards 

 away, just so that I could comfortably take a rest 

 off my tree, I could not resist taking him just 

 forward of the shoulder. His foreleg gave at once, 

 and he rolled over. With something between a 

 growl and a moan, he recovered his legs ; and as 

 he did so I fired the other barrel at the same spot ; 

 and several other shots rang out. During the 

 rest of the beat I heard him at intervals, but 

 imagined it to be merely a case of convulsive 

 struggles among the brushwood. 



The beat ended in silence, and Miller and I 

 with a forester entered the brush to search for 

 "Brer Bar." Imagine my surprise when he got 



