108 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



poor spiritless beasts who disgrace the name 

 of Bruin in the Zoo. 



From where we were we could not hear 

 him as he moved, nor was he in the least 

 degree conscious of our presence, and I would 

 gladly have watched him longer, but Simon 

 was boiling over with impatience, and the 

 bear was feeding every second more and more 

 into the shadow. So I tried to balance my 

 rifle on Simon's alpenstock for a rest, and 

 though I could not see my foresight clearly, 

 aimed low and pulled trigger. Not for the 

 first time since I have bee^iin bear-shootino; 

 did I become conscious of the fact that with a 

 quick swing of his huge body my old enemy 

 had galloped off without a sound into the forest, 

 apparently untouched. Whether he was hit 

 or not I don't know — he evidently was not 

 very badly hurt ; and owing to the bad light I 

 felt very little confidence in my shooting and 

 did not attempt to follow him, though I have 



