BEARS. 17 



shouted " Look out, there is a tiger just over your head," 

 and, keeping my sights on the brute, told Manley to 

 move to the left, as of course it would be dangerous to 

 fire until he was well clear of the janwar. A few 

 seconds after the panther retired up a sloping sheet of 

 rock towards the cairn, and I fired a shot, the ricochet 

 of which struck him in the ball of the off fore paw, as 

 we afterwards discovered. On re-entering the cairn there 

 was another huge scuffle inside, followed by the exit of 

 the bear, which headed across an open plain, towards a 

 range of hills rather over a mile from us. 



My horse had not arrived, but Poulton, who had just 

 ridden up, and Manley, whose syce was fleeter of foot 

 than mine, took their spears and pursued the bear. So 

 I climbed up the cairn and witnessed a most amusing 

 scene. The bear, being rather lame, was soon overtaken, 

 Poulton leading, and doing all he knew to get the spear, 

 closely pressed by Manley. The plain was studded with 

 stunted acacias, kino, and custard apple bushes, and a 

 good many anthills not bad going on the whole, but 

 trappy. Poulton soon arrived within spear's length, and 

 was in the act of delivering his thrust, when the bear 

 turning sharply round, charged him with roars of anger 

 His horse swerved off, and Manley's pony, close behind, 

 turned round and made a clean bolt of it, but soon put 

 its foot in a hole, and came down no harm done, so 

 Manley mounted again, Poulton, in the meanwhile, 

 tackling the bear, but with like result, his horse Pyjamas 

 again stampeding. For fully twenty minutes this absurd 

 performance continued, the bear steadily gaining ground 

 towards the hills, at the foot of which was a tank witli 

 a large bund (embankment) covered with date palms ; this 

 he eventually reached, after a final engagement with 



