MOSTLY ABOUT BEARS 167 



shikari, whom I had employed, to look for tracks. 

 The shikari was leading the way with my '450 

 rifle on his shoulder, and we were walking along 

 a forest ride. The shikari was looking on the 

 ground, and over his shoulder I saw a bear emerge 

 from the grass and enter the ride at about 120 

 or 130 yards' distance. I seized the rifle and 

 fired from a standing position and knocked 

 him over. He jumped up and ran back into the 

 grass, and out on to the ride walked a second 

 bear. I knocked him over with the second 

 barrel, but he also jumped up and ran back into 

 the grass. One of the two we found badly 

 wounded in the grass, a few yards from the place 

 where they were knocked over. The other got 

 away, though we followed the track, and there 

 was much blood, for a long distance. 



A few days after this I saw a solitary she-bear, 

 and shot her. 



By this time I was in constant expectation 

 of the appearance of a bear, but, although I 

 hunted for some days after this, I saw no more. 

 On the whole, I did well with the bears. The 

 bag consisted of six full-grown animals and 

 three cubs, while three got away wounded, and 

 two, which were in difficult ground, escaped 

 apparently unhurt. I made notes, in the book 

 in which I kept the log of my fishing expeditions, 

 of the days on which I met the bears in the 

 Yeotmal district, as the number of them which 

 I came across in the eight days appeared to be 

 remarkable. 



In the course of this expedition I shot, in 

 addition to the bears, a good chital stag in the 



