126 A Sportswoman in India 



followed by another and another and another, five 

 in all. 



Number four was the old female, and she carried 

 two baby cubs in the long fur of her shoulders, which 

 she put down and allowed to play about round her, 

 like a couple of little Skye terriers. Some of the party 

 began feeding on the young sprouts of grass, while 

 the others turned over the stones for the beetles and 

 other insects to devour. The old bear sat on a stone. 



The whole group were so uncouth and grotesque 

 in their movements that we, watching them, were 

 positively holding our sides and aching with suppressed 

 laughter. Needless to say, we were well to leeward 

 of them ; bears have extraordinarily acute powers of 

 scent, but they are very blind animals, and care need 

 only be taken to avoid giving them the wind. 



In spite of the nudges and impatient whispers on 

 the parts of the two shikaris, either gun was loath 

 to fire the first shot and to disturb the happy family. 

 However, we could not wait all day. S. made a 

 signal, and putting up his gun, aimed at the old 

 bear on the stone ; while M. almost at the same 

 moment put a bullet into a female that was grazing. 



The old bear toppled off his rock, fell on to one 

 of the others, and they both rolled downhill together. 

 Seeing that M.'s female was lying apparently dead, 

 we ran down the face of the descent as fast as we 

 were able. The old bear, growling furiously, was 

 stumbling about at the bottom. S., who was down 

 first, rolled him over with his death-warrant. 



