46 THE SNOW BEAR. 



came out of the forest a little further up the valley on our side of the stream. I was in hopes 

 that he would begin feeding, but either some eddy of the wind wafted our scent to him, or he 

 changed his mind, for he presently hurried back into the forest, and we saw him no more. 



Half an hour afterwards a large dark colored Bear made his appearance out of a deep 

 ravine and fed to within a hundred yards of us. I took a most deliberate aim, but though 

 my bullet struck about the right place, and the Bear rolled over, he managed to scramble 

 down to the river, crossed it, and escaped. 



It was now time to return to camp, and I reached it about dark, very much disgusted 

 with my want of success. The failures were doubtless owing to my defective rifle, or rather 

 ammunition. I then possessed a double barrelled rifle -577 bore, which, although accurate 

 enough at known distances, had a very high trajectory, the charge being only one and a half 

 drams of powder. Shells had then been recently invented, and I supposed that nothing hit 

 by them could possibly escape : as it was, I really diminished the power of my rifle rather 

 than increased it by using them. The mixture with which the shells were loaded was very 

 sensitive, and the charge of powder in the rifle was very small ; the result was that the shells 

 burst on striking, and on a tough beast like a Bear inflicted only superficial wounds. 



The next day's sport made amends for a day of bad luck. On my way back to camp 

 I had seen some Ibex in the rocks above me, but too far off to go after at such a late hour of 

 the day. In the morning I ordered camp to be moved up the valley to the farthest point 

 which I had reached the day before, and, instead of following the path, I at once ascended 

 the hill and went along the ridge on which I had seen the Ibex. We found them, and I 

 shot a couple. Going down to where the second one had fallen, my Shikari and I began to 

 skin it ; as we were thus engaged, two Bears suddenly cantered past within thirty yards. The 

 man with my rifle had not yet joined us, so I picked up my gun, which was loaded with ball, 

 and hit the foremost Bear, but not severely. I missed the second one, and both went up 

 the hill, passing so close to my gun-carrier that he pelted them with stones and actually 

 struck them ; he was in a great fright, but the Bears seemed to have no intention of harm- 

 ing him. 



Having skinned the Ibex we went down to the place which we had selected for the 

 camp, but had hardly reached it when a Bear appeared on the hill-side which we had just 

 quitted. Up we went again, and after an easy stalk I found myself within about thirty yards. 

 I placed a shell between his eyes, but he walked slowly on ! Two more shots, quickly fired, 

 dropped him dead, and on going up I found the smoke of the shell still issuing from the 

 hole between his eyes : owing to the peculiar position his head was in, the brain had not been 

 touched. He was a very large Bear, and as he was in an awkward place for skinning we 

 rolled him down the hill right into our camp. 



In the evening I went to the strip of forest out of which the light colored Bear had 

 appeared yesterday. On the verge of it I found another Bear, but though I rolled him over, 

 he managed to make his escape, as we lost the trail in dense jungle. 



Passing through the forest we came to another grassy hill-side, and on this, within a few 

 hundred yards of each other, were no fewer than six Bears. Very little daylight remained ; 



