8 BEARS. 



I at length found myself within ten yards of it with both 

 cartridges jammed, and the shikari with my second gun 

 thirty yards behind me. At this juncture the bear turned 

 round and charged. I bolted like a redshank, so did the 

 shikari, who had the start of, and soon distanced me, but 

 pulled up when he saw the brute gaining on me, and 

 handed me the second gun. My friend now began firing 

 to cover my retreat, His projectiles were whizzing all 

 round, and it was difficult to aim steadily under the 

 circumstances ; but my two barrels stopped the bear, which 

 again retired. The shikari now emerged from under a 

 rock, and, pointing to a branch which had been broken by 

 a bullet, said "it is better to be clawed by a bear than to 

 eat the other sahib's bullets." We then followed the 

 tracks up for some distance, and beat a hill for the brute, 

 but never saw it again, so we returned disconsolately to 

 camp. The elephant men declared that several bullets had 

 passed close to them, and that one struck the howdah ; 

 and they pointed out a mark which might have been made 

 by a ricochet. A few days later, at Nowsanpully, I got 

 my first bear. Having started before daylight, and 

 waited near a cave, two appeared, and, allowing them to 

 approach within fifteen yards, I fired at the horseshoe of 

 the leader, who turned round and savagely tackled his 

 companion, expiring immediately afterwards. The second 

 bear escaped. 



The following morning I again went out, and saw no 

 bears, but about seven o'clock a fine tiger stalked slowly 

 across the plain towards the range on which I was posted ; 

 it was, however, headed by a wood-cutter, who commenced 

 his work just at the wrong moment, and we failed to 

 intercept it ; this brute eventually became a notorious 

 man-eater, of which more anon. 



