308 THE CAVE. 



(an old hill man) hand me the torch," which 

 he had tied on the end of a long pole, " look 

 out," and into the cave I rammed the blazing 

 pine, in answer came an uproar wild and 

 loud, which cleared the neighbourhood of the 

 cave from all supernumeraries, and sent Colls 

 who had placed himself just at the mouth, 

 to a safer place. " Try him again. Colonel," 

 says Wilson, and standing ready, with rifle in 

 hand, the man close by me thrust the torch 

 into the hole a second time. It was too 

 much for poor Bruin, out he rushed, and 

 our three shots, fired as one, laid him low. 



He was an enormous brute, a splendid 

 specimen of a black bear ; his powers of 

 endurance must have been very great, for 

 upon examination we found eight bullets in 

 him, and he had bled freely from his numerous 

 wounds. During the days of his youth, he 

 had received a cut across the nose into his 

 lower jaw, which made one of his tusks 

 project horizontally forwaixl, and gave huu a 

 very savage look. However there he lay, — 

 his head is one of my Himalayan trophies. 



