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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, B45 
From where we lay a lot more ground was visible, and I took out my glasses 
to have a good look at it, The instant I put them tomy eyesI found an 
old bear waddling across their field. The poli were now out of sight, and the 
bear was a long way off, so I did not think there would be any harm in having 
a shot at him ; the only drawback was that it was getting very late. We sig- 
nalled up the Kirghiz and the yaks,and were soon all three riding up the 
nulla at a trot. We did not dismount until we were well within 500 yards of 
the bear, and then, as we had a broad sheet of snow to cross, I thought we 
could trust to his blindness no longer. The sun was going down, and time 
was short. We raced across the hard snow (in ful] view), then into a nulla 
and up on to a ridge, by which time it was distinctly a case of “ bellows to 
mend” with the three of us. The bear was slowly walking up a snow slope 
about 100 yards off us, and I was afraid I would not have time to pull myself 
together before he crossed the ridge, There was no time to lose,so, as he 
topped the slope, I fired. He fell, and spun round and round biting at his 
hind quarters, where I had evidently hit him, My next four rounds missed 
fire, and by that time the bear had got on his legs again and disappeared over 
the ridge. It was rather a question what to do,as there was evidently some- 
thing very wrong with either the rifle or cartridges. The Kirghiz, however, 
gave me no time to consider, but dashed off in pursuit, so I was bound to 
‘follow. Luckily, the bear was not just round the corner, where I quite ex- 
pected to find him, The next we saw of him he was going very strong on the 
other side of the main valley, Throwing myself down and using a rest, 1 
aimed again. That round went off, and Rakhmat marked the shot under, 
I screwed up the Lyman another hundred yards and had another try, 
Another misfire, and then round after round refused to go off, The bear was 
getting further and further off, and in a short time would be covered by a 
ridge, Blessings were being plentifully bestowed in three different languages 
on rifle, cartridges, and bear, when suddenly a round went off, and, by an 
extraordinary fluke, stretched the animal dead. No time was lost in getting 
off the skin, but it was long after dark before we reached camp. 
Next day I devoted to examining the rifle, cleaning the bear skin, and hav- 
ing a bath, for in the spring on the ! amirs, one’s only chance of a tub is when 
one happens to be in camp in the middle of the day. It would require a good 
deal wore hardihood than I possess to try a tub in the early morning or even- 
ing, I soon found out what was wrong with the rifle ; some dirt had got into 
the hole in the head of the bolt in which the striker works, thus preventing 
the latter from projecting far enough to detonate the cartridge. No doubt 
my best plan would have been to have gone on hammering away at each round 
until it went off, and not to have ejected it and tried a new one after each 
misfire, These things, however, often fail to strike one just at the right time. 
The following day we went off to the same place to look for the big ram, 
for I was quite determined to add that grand pair of horns to my bag. 
