ATTEMPTS TO DISLODGE BRUIN. 127 



tlicre on the watch since early morning, declared 

 that no effort had been made by it to force 

 a passage through the stones which they had 

 piled up. 



" He is evidently safe in there," said Norman, 

 after examining with Manajee a sandy spot just 

 outside. " His traces are recent, and do not return. 

 But how to get him out is the question." 



There was no time, however, to be lost ; so the 

 three hunters having taken up positions, one above, 

 and the other two at the side of the aperture, the 

 men soon cleared away the stones in front. They 

 then began to howl about the rocks, and in at the 

 various fissures and cracks, hoping to startle the 

 sleeping game into an abrupt exit. 



Guns were fired off, too, the sound reverberating 

 sharply among the rocks. Flower-pots and crackers 

 were next resorted to ; some of the latter being 

 dropped into those holes which seemed to have some 

 connection with the main cavern. They were then 

 thrown in from the mouth, as far as was practicable ; 

 but without producing any sign of Bruin's presence 

 within. 



A long stick, some twelve or fifteen feet in 

 length, was next cut from a neighbouring branch of 

 bamboos, and a rocket affixed to the end and lighted. 

 This was thrust in as far as it would go, and the 



