98 The Hunting Grounds 



twinkle, and something black moving about, which 

 at first sight looked like the hair of a bear. I put up 

 my gun and covered the object, but did not like to 

 fire, as I was afraid of only slightly wounding the 



beast. M- , who saw the motion I made with 



my gun, asked me what I saw. I told him I 

 thought a bear was concealed in the tree, as I could 

 distinctly see some long black hair. ( A bear ! ' said 

 he, 'perhaps it is, these gentry often climb trees on 

 the look out for honey, yet I think it is much more 

 likely to be a black monkey. Fire at it, however, 

 whatever it is, I am ready to look out for squalls, 

 and perhaps it may be a black panther.' With any 



other man than M I should have hesitated to 



fire, considering the awkward position I was in, 

 perched on the shoulders of a man who I knew 

 would bolt at the first sign of danger, and expose 

 me not only to a nasty fall, but also to the mercy 



of a wounded brute. But with M I felt quite 



safe, knowing his extreme coolness in time of danger, 

 and the fatal accuracy of his aim. Again I raised 

 the rifle to my shoulder and was about to pull trigger, 

 when I bethought me that if it was only a bear he 

 could not spring on me, and that I could fire with 

 more fatal eifect from the tree itself. I accordingly 

 got on to the fork of the tree, and as soon as 

 I got a steady footing I raised my rifle to fire. 

 Again I put it down, thinking that I might only 



