IN THE WURDWAN. 65 



had vanished, I scanned every possible spot with the 

 glass, but saw none, so gave up all hopes of ibex, and 

 later in the day descended to look for bears on the lower 

 slopes. 



Kamal, away on the left, made signs of game, an old 

 and a young bear down in a deep hollow. I got into 

 position, and fired down, wounding the old bear : fired 

 all my remaining barrels as she made off : then loaded, 

 and off in pursuit rugged ground, and two deep awk- 

 ward ravines to cross. At last we sighted the chase, 

 slowly crawling ahead, but a difficult ravine between us, 

 We crossed it, and up the hill to intercept Bruin, but 

 paused on the brink of a precipitous and impassable 

 ravine. Subhan's keen eyes detected the bear pausing 

 on a ledge, partially concealed by a bush. She half- 

 turned to look back on her pursuers, when a ball struck 

 her, and she toppled over, rolling down the hill-side, 

 We had to make a considerable detour to get to her : 

 looked for others in vain, so returned to camp. 



It is supposed by the shikarries that a pack of wild 

 dogs, whose tracks we found in the snow following on 

 those of ibex, had driven those animals away, 



22nd May. A long march up the Wurdwan. We 

 passed Busman on the left-bank, crossed the river by a 

 bridge at Goombrah at which village my sporting rival 

 of the 79th had bivouacked and moved along the bank 

 to a small village. We saw three bears feeding on a 

 hill-side across the river. It was decided to stop here, 

 and try to get these bears : so we halted. But Phuttoo 

 failing to persuade the villagers to rebuild a bridge which 

 had been washed away, and being unable to cross the 

 river at any place nearer, we continued our route to our 

 previous destination, Shugkenuz. 



The road lay along the bank of the river which had 



