THE BARA SING. 307 



Mooktoo who bore the spyglass. Through this I now 

 inspected the distant beast, and found it a very large one. 

 Very soon he moved off; and, after patiently following 

 his eccentric movements, I marked him down, behind a 

 jutting rock high up on the mountain. Summoning 

 Phuttoo and Mooktoo, I made my own bunderbus for 

 the assault ; rode Mooktoo across the river, and was 

 obliged to ascend the mountain by a gulley to windward 

 of the bear's retreat, but hoped, by getting above, to 

 weather on him. It was hard work getting up the 

 grass very slippery, and I had only common shoes on. 

 We reached right over the spot I thought Bruin oc- 

 cupied ; closely examined the rock I thought he har- 

 boured by ; but of him we saw nothing. Nor could we 

 get a glimpse of him elsewhere ; so, supposing he had 

 withdrawn unobserved, we prepared for our difficult 

 descent, in which we were engaged, Phuttoo assisting my 

 sliding feet, when he uttered an exclamation, and, follow- 

 ing his eye, I saw the dust flying, as the bear, till now in 

 a fast snooze, scuttled off. Phuttoo handed me the Whit- 

 worth, and, luckily, the brute turned round on a rise far 

 above us to have a look at the disturbers of his repose. 

 That moment of curiosity was fatal ; as, taking advantage 

 of the glimpse of him, I sent a bolt into his neck, and 

 staggered him. Growling savagely, he made his way 

 some little distance, and climbed on to a prominent piece 

 of rock a fine mark, about a hundred and fifty yards 

 off. Phuttoo, quickly loading, handed me the rifle, and 

 the discharge of its contents brought Bruin from his lofty 

 perch. Mooktoo, who was far above us, made for the 

 spot, and dragging the carcase from a cleft in which it 

 had lodged, it came spinning and rolling, over and over, 

 on to a snowdrift in a ravine. I hastened to inspect it 

 a fine large female, in full fur, and fat as butter. I 



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