WASTED OPPORTUNITIES. 1G9 



known a bear take a mortal wound without 

 a whimper and go off as if nothing had 

 happened. 



Simon was not so angry as I expected, 

 and seemed to think he had over-rated my 

 rifle's powers, and to be resolved another 

 time to get me as near as he would requu-e to 

 be himself. That night we saw no more 

 bears, but twice during the night we heard 

 the echoes rattling amongst the hills m 

 answer to Frank's rifle far away at the other 

 end of the table-land. Gradually it grew too 

 dark to see, and then we left the fields, and 

 after half an hour's scrambling' and sliding- in 

 the dark, we saw the light of our camp fire 

 glimmer up from the meadow by the river's 

 edge through the last fringe of the lower belt 

 of woods. There was no time then for build- 

 ing up a ' palagan ' (hut of boughs) or 

 erecting our tent, so we piled up our log fire 

 to enormous dimensions, rolled ourselves in 



