DENSE COVERTS. 133 



got the shot and invariably missed it. Once he 

 did hit an old she-bear, and a rare mess he very 

 nearly made of it. I had got sick of seeing nothing, 

 and was standing on an old log under which a bear 

 had at one time made his lair, gazing idly down a 

 long vista of forest below me. As I gazed I saw 

 a small animal, which at the distance I could not 

 recognise, being rolled over and over in the dead 

 leaves by what was unmistakably a bear. I was 

 on the point of descending to stalk her, when a 

 report rang out below, and the old bear rolled over 

 beside her cub. In another moment she was on 

 her feet again, and using her fore-paw to urge him 

 along, she was rapidly driving her cub towards me 

 and away from the spot whence the report had 

 come. As I watched, too much engrossed to 

 think of tiring, I saw her leave 'the cub and go 

 at a really good gallop for something between her 

 and myself. For a moment I thought I was the 

 object of her attack ; but a view of Stepan, his 

 wretched old tire-arm as usual abandoned, bolting 

 like a rabbit, revealed at once the true state of the 

 case, and I made all haste to his rescue. Seeing me 

 coming and Stepan stopping as I approached, the 

 old she-bear turned, much to my surprise and in- 

 finitely to my disgust. Blown with my sharp rush 

 and unduly excited, I missed the old lady entirely, 

 or only hit her behind as she dived downhill 

 through the high covert. Though we heard her 



