Upon walking to the edge of the Ghauts there was no
difficulty in discovering the route by which the bears came up to
the farm. For a mile to the right and left the ground fell away as
if cut with a knife, leaving a precipice of over a hundred feet
sheer down; but close by where I was standing was the head of
a water course, which in time had gradually worn a sort of cleft
in the wall, up or down which it was not difficult to make one's
way. Further down this little gorge widened out and became a deep
ravine, and further still a wide valley, where it opened upon the
flats far below us. About half a mile down, where the ravine was
deepest and darkest, was a thick clump of trees and jungle.
"'That's where the bears are?' I asked Rahman. He nodded. It
seemed no distance. I could get down and back in time for tiffin,
and perhaps bag a couple of bears. For a young sportsman the
temptation was great. 'How long would it take us to go down and
have a shot or two at them?'
"'No good go down. Master come here at night, shoot bears when they
come up.'
"I had thought of that; but, in the first place, it did not seem
much sport to shoot the beasts from cover when they were quietly
eating, and, in the next place, I knew that Norworthy could not,
even if he were willing, give me leave to go out of camp at night.
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