MONKEYS, BEARS, AND ELEPHANTS. 145 



stopped, and one stood up on his haunches to have a good look at 

 us. I fii-ed at the yellow crescent on his breast, but missed, and on 

 they went again. 



TeUing Arndee to come on, I started after them, throwing away 

 my hat and rubber blanket as I ran. We could see the low bushes 

 shake a hundred yards in advance of us, and occasionally we 

 caught a glimpse of a black form, but could not get a shot. We 

 crossed the top of the ridge, ran down the other side and found 

 the bears were gaining on us. We crossed the ravine at the foot 

 of the hill and started up the other side, which was very steep and 

 in places thickly overgrown with brush and clumps of bamboo. 

 Near the top of the hill we came to an unusually thick patch of 

 imderbrush, in which we heard the two bears grumbling and 

 swearing as they paused to rest a little. Keeping a sharp lookout, 

 we soon sighted a glossy black form, at which I fired. 



Evidently the shot took effect, for directly one of the bears set 

 up a terrible bawling, and came rolling end over end down the 

 steep slope, clawing right and left, and yelling "bloody murder" 

 at every tumble. He rolled dowTi to within twenty feet of where 

 we stood and finally lodged in a clump of bamboos, where he re- 

 mained motionless and quiet. Arndee exclaimed that "he was 

 dead ; " I thought so too, and so we started on after bear num- 

 ber three. 



We found his trail at the top of the hill and followed it a little 

 way, when I discovered that my head was aching and throbbing 

 terrifically, so we abandoned the pursuit and went back to bear num- 

 ber two. We reached the spot, but lo and behold ! we beheld not 

 the bear. He had evidently concluded, on thinking the matter over, 

 that he was not quite dead enough to skin, so he had picked him- 

 self up and gone off about his business. He left a few " foot-prints 

 on the sands of time," and a drop of blood here and there, but that 

 was alL We followed his trail for a mile or so, abandoned it finally 

 in disgust, and went back to the scene of our first encounter. 



We expected to find the dead bear, four Mulcers, and my cast- 

 off garments all there together, but to our utter amazement we 

 found none of them ! The whole affair began to look Hke a dream, 

 but while I was trying to study it out, Arndee found where the old 

 bear had gone off, dragging her hind-quarters, — and my gang had 

 loafed off home. Vowing vengeance on those heedless rascals 

 we started to follow up the broad and bloody trail left by our 

 wounded quarry. 

 10 



