VILLAGE CURS. 53 



exclaimed Baloo Mar, jumping up most pluckily, now that all 

 possible chance of danger was over. Kurbeer and I, however, 

 thought otherwise ; so after reloading, we commenced tracking, 

 and soon found the long grass bespattered with blood, which 

 increased in quantity until we found the bear, a large male, 

 lying stone-dead about three hundred yards down the hill. 

 But the bear-slayer was determined to make sure that there 

 was no possibility of doing harm left in the animal ; for he 

 flung several stones at its carcass, and also took the precau- 

 tion to repeatedly prod at it with his long stick, at arm's- 

 length, the while heaping a variety of abusive epithets on the 

 defunct beast, before venturing to go nearer it. 



After covering the dead bear with boughs and long grass 

 to hide it from the eagles and vultures, we made for the spot 

 where I had wounded the jurrow. But after tracking it for a 

 long distance, we eventually lost all sign of it in the thick 

 forest to which it had betaken itself. The afternoon was 

 spent in skinning the bear, and removing and boiling down 

 the grease, of which the beast had a pretty thick layer on its 

 broad back. 



The early part of next day was devoted to the gooral. The 

 only one I shot at fell down a considerable distance among 

 the crags, so I sent Kurbeer after it. On his return with it, 

 he told me that whilst below he had seen a surrow. As ] 

 shall have more to say about this curious animal hereafter, ] 

 shiill now merely describe its appearance as being something 

 I -tween a donkey and a big billy-goat, with short black horns. 

 We returned rather early, as I intended to organise a drivi- 

 for the jurrow, which I felt sure was lying woundol >onir- 

 wlirn: in the wood into which we had tracked it. 



We bent up for volunteers in the neighbourhood, and soon 

 had enough of willing hands for our purpose. The village 

 dogs of all sorts and sizes were also, at Baloo Mar's advice, 

 put into requisition. Some of these mongrel curs, queer as 

 they lonkr.l, \vrif quite up to the business on hand, for tin- 



