We will sit down here for a bit, and if we can see
anything moving up in the wood, well and good; if not, we will come
back again another day with some beaters and dogs.' So saying, I
sat down with my back against a rock, at a spot where I could look
up among the trees for a long way through a natural vista. I had a
drink of claret, and then I sat and watched till gradually I dropped
off to sleep. I don't know how long I slept, but it was some time,
and I woke up with a sudden start. Rahman, who had, I fancy, been
asleep too, also started up.
"The noise which had aroused us was made by a rolling stone striking
a rock: and looking up I saw some fifty yards away, not in the
wood, but on the rocky hillside on our side of the ravine, a bear
standing, as though unconscious of our presence, snuffing the
air. As was natural, I seized my rifle, cocked it, and took aim,
unheeding a cry of 'No, no, sahib,' from Rahman. However, I was
not going to miss such a chance as this, and I let fly. The beast
had been standing sideways to me, and as I saw him fall I felt
sure I had hit him in the heart. I gave a shout of triumph, and
was about to climb up, when, from behind the rock on which the bear
had stood, appeared another, growling fiercely; on seeing me, it
at once prepared to come down.
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