My shikari, writhing with extreme excitement, hissed, "Baloo, sahib,
baloo!" and began aimlessly running to and fro, apparently hoping to meet
the bear somewhere. It was truly gay for a few minutes, but as nothing
further occurred, and the beaters grew very hoarse with their prodigious
efforts, I hurried on to Walter's post to learn what had happened.
A bear had suddenly come out of the cover some 40 yards off, and stood to
look. The Colonel missed it, whereupon it dashed forward, passing within a
few yards of him, and he missed it again. It departed at top speed across
some open ground behind him, and gained the great woods which stretch away
to the Kaj-nag, and never shall we see that bear again! The Colonel was
much disgusted, and if language--hot, strong, and plenty of it--could
have slain that bear, he would have dropped dead in his tracks.
The beaters brought up a wonderful tale of how another bear, badly wounded
in the leg, had charged through their lines and gone back. They stuck to
their story, and either a second bear actually existed or they are
colossal liars. I incline to the latter theory.
We had wasted all our luck. No more bears came to look at us, and so, late
in the afternoon, we sought the rest-house and consolation from Jane and
Hesketh, who had arrived from Drogmulla.
I had occasion to deplore the bad manners of the rats at Harwan, but their
conduct was exemplary compared with that of the rats of Rainawari! I had
been writing my journal, according to my custom, before going to sleep,
and hardly had "lights out" been sounded than a rat went off with my
candle, literally from below my very nose.
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