Fourteen Thousand Feet High 213 



We proceeded with the greatest caution, and con- 

 cealed ourselves at one corner of the wood, a little 

 distance from it, the beaters all walking off to the 

 other end. As we sat down in the long grass, we 

 could hear a sound inside the wood, rustling and 

 scratching, and suddenly a stout mulberry-tree top 

 began to shake to and fro, and vibrate with the weight 

 evidently of some heavy animal up in its branches. 

 A harpat \ 



It was the most tantalising thing in the world to 

 sit there and to see this going on. We could only 

 hope the beaters would drive him out our way. It 

 would have been useless to have run across the open, 

 for the bear was probably clambering down then, and 

 would soon have been out of sight in the tangle of 

 forest ; whereas if he broke in our direction, there was 

 a chance of getting a good shot. 



The beating began ; and when the natives, as far 

 as we could judge by the noise, had got about half-way 

 through the wood, frantic shouts and beatings as 

 though the tom-toms were possessed proclaimed that 

 the harpat had broken back. However, he did not 

 seem to have gone through the line, and judging from 

 the sound, he was being seen from time to time, and 

 was coming in our direction. We were all hope. 



And then a large black form crashed out of the 

 farther corner of the wood away from us, and set 

 off lumbering across the fallow. It was a very long 

 shot. S. steadied his rifle all he could, but sheer 

 excitement made things more against him. Bang ! 



