A PROTRACTED CHASE 105 



When we had got about half way down 

 the hill, we sat on a rocky point, overlook- 

 ing a deep valley, bordered by a strip of 

 verdant grass surmounted by a copse ; there 

 we lit our pipes, and waited in the hopes of 

 seeing a bear come out to feed in the even- 

 ing, as their custom is. We had been there 

 nearly half an hour, and I was looking 

 through the binoculars, when suddenly a 

 red bear came tumbling out of the copse 

 opposite to us in a great hurry, and bustled 

 along down the green slope, going all side- 

 ways as he played down the hill, kicking 

 out his hind legs, first on one side and 

 then on the other, enjoying the perfect 

 security of his lonely home among the 

 mountains and trees. A glance at the lie 

 of the ground between us, and our line was 

 evident ; we had only to get quickly down 

 a ridge which ran rather to the left, then 

 to change on to another on its right, under 

 cover of a clump of trees, and then to run 

 down that ridge, which ended up with a 

 precipitous drop of perhaps three hundred 



