MOSTLY ABOUT BEARS 165 



On the same day I was walking with the two 

 forest guards in the afternoon. The sun was still 

 high in the heaven, and the time for still-hunting 

 had not arrived, when, much to our surprise, 

 we saw three bears, a she-bear and two nearly 

 full-grown cubs, coming towards us at a canter 

 through the grass. These probably were the 

 three bears which the natives said they had seen 

 on the ist of February. My "450 was loaded, 

 and I had two cartridges somewhere in my pockets, 

 but I was not expecting to see game so early in 

 the afternoon, and was not properly prepared 

 for a battle. The bears were coming fast through 

 the grass, and there was not much time for 

 reflection, and the encounter with the she-bear 

 had made me cautious. I tried, therefore, to 

 shoot the leading bear, which was one of the 

 cubs, as it was coming towards me. The grass 

 partly covered the animal, and I wounded it 

 only, whereupon it gave a squawk and ran all 

 the faster in my direction. I allowed it to pass 

 me, which it did within a few yards, and then 

 fired the second barrel. This produced a second 

 shriek, but evidently neither of the wounds 

 was serious. I then turned round and found 

 that the old she-bear was looking at me from a 

 distance of about twenty yards. Her appearance 

 indicated surprise rather than anger, but my 

 rifle was unloaded and the situation was unpleasant 

 and I hunted anxiously in my pockets for the 

 two cartridges. After some time I found one 

 and loaded one barrel; but, as I did not know 

 where the third bear was, I maintained an 

 attitude of observation, and we faced each other 



