A PROTRACTED CHASE 109 



have a look round ; my chance had come, 

 and found me ready ; the foresight was on 

 him, the trigger pressed, and instead of the 

 bang which should have laid him low, there 

 came the sickening " click" of a miss-fire, 

 while Bruin continued his course. Fifty 

 yards more and he would be round the 

 corner and out of sight, and as it was a 

 branch of a tree was in my way, so that I 

 had to stand up in order to fire ; I arose 

 with a muttered " no luck at all " on my 

 lips, while I threw the rifle up like a gun, 

 and pulled the trigger just on the off chance 

 of hitting him. Great was my pleasure to 

 see him roll over and over, head over heels, 

 like a hedgehog, down the slope ; and never 

 stop until he lay dead on the clear white 

 snow of the nullah below, and Lassoo with 

 his skull cap off, bowing to me and saying 

 in English, " Good morning" by which 

 he meant " well done." 



It was growing late, so we started to get 

 down to the bear's body, selecting the bed 

 of a streamlet which fell down the cliff as 



