The Washington herald., 1916-01-02

with my gun in his hand 1 quickly
asked where, and rushed to the side of
the shelving plateau, where I found the
remainder of my party gazing at three
bears slowly making their way to an
other part of the ridge on which we
stood, from a deep hollow in the noun
tain side. Evidently a shebear and two
cubs, the latter somewhat larger than
st, Bernard dogs, were quietly feeding
as they moved slowly up the steep dec
rvity. told half of my party to wait
where they were standing, and then de-
scended TO intercept the bears II they
retreated by the way they had come,
while the hunter, my friend H, and
ran round the side Of the hollow to
meet them as they ascended its precip-
itous slope.
H and the guide ran in front of
me to the edge of the cliff. and before
1 could gain a footing both fired. 1
looked over and saw a cub rolling head
over heels down the hill but instantly
turned on hearing a savage growl be-
hind me. The mother had reached the
top by a curve of the steep side. As /
faced her, she rose on her hind legs
about four yards In front Behind me
was a precipice with jagged sides, which
I had seen when I watched the young
one fall headlong back. raised my gun
to fire and found IL at half cock, but
pulled it to the full while at my shoulder.
H, who was some distance to the
right of me, fired, and sent a bullet
through her leg or foot. so it seemed by
the way she shook it. This increased her
rage. I fired and broke her jaw. She
dropped on all fours and howled with
pain. but before she could make UP her
mind what to do I emptied the contents
OF my second barrel into her side and
she rolled over, dead.
Before firing the second time, I heard
a shot from another gun. 1t came from
that belonging to the hunter, who had
made good his escape at the approach
of the bear and lay carefully concealed
behind a jutting crag. When examined
the skin OF the slain beast / found the
pieces of shot that came from his gun
embedded in the skin and hair, and gave
them back to him.
But before attending to the dead. we
looked round for the living. The natives
had asked to assist US to get all three
were quietly sitting where we had left
them, watching the sport. One cub had
escaped, but the wounded one, with his
fore quarters covered with blood. was
wandering aimlessly in the hollow below,
apparently in great distress. H and
1 ran down the side Of the mountain to
ward him, intending to put an end to hit
misery, but found IL so steep that we
could scarcely stop when once in motion,
and We had some difficulty in breathing
at such height above the sea. Fortu-
nately he turned the way We had come
and so gave us time to recover. The
Shebha hunter fired, and down the
youngster came again. We gave him two
more shots as he passed us. He tottered
and shook for a moment then turned
again. We chased him up and down the
mountain before we were able to get an
other shot. which finally rolled him over;
but he was so near a chasm that he fell
headlong down. and nothing but shower
of earth and stones showed the direction
of his rapid descent We sent the guide
round by another path to see II 1t was
possible to get his carcass, but he re-
turned so quickly with story about
some shepherds skinning IT that we could
not believe him, and so gave II up for
lost
We then set to work and removed the
skin from the one that had fallen in our
sight. Our hunter was very much dis
gusted at the comments we made on the
courage he had displayed, but calmly
excused himself by saying that he had
no bullets, only shot for partridges, and
that he trusted in our superior weapons,
none of which was a rifle. We carried
the skin away with us. and before we
reached our homes in Jerusalem Il be-
came a troublesome burden; but It was
our trophy and We priced 1t. No matter
how much salt we bought and used, we
could not stife the unpleasant odor in
the hot sun; but We persevered, and at
last arrived at our destination.
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