a
merry party were sitting in the verandah of one of the largest and handsomest bungalows of poonah. it belonged to colonel hastings, colonel of a native regiment stationed there, and at present, in virtue of seniority, commanding a brigade. tiffin was on, and three or four officers and four ladies had taken their seats in the comfortable cane lounging chairs which form the invariable furniture of the verandah of a well-ordered bungalow. permission had been duly asked, and granted by mrs. hastings, and the cheroots had just begun to draw, when miss hastings, a niece of the colonel, who had only arrived the previous week from england, said,—
"uncle, i am quite disappointed. mrs. lyons showed me the bear she has got tied up in their compound, and it is the most wretched little thing, not bigger than rover, papa's retriever, and it's full-grown. i thought bears were great fierce creatures, and this poor little thing seemed so restless and unhappy that i thought it quite a shame not to let it go."
colonel hastings smiled rather grimly.
"and yet, small and insignificant as that bear is, my dear, it is a question whether he is not as dangerous an animal to meddle with as a man-eating tiger."
"what, that wretched little bear, uncle?"
"yes, that wretched little bear. any experienced sportsman will tell you that hunting those little bears is as dangerous a sport as tiger-hunting on foot, to say nothing of tiger-hunting from an elephant's back, in which there is scarcely any danger whatever. i can speak feelingly about it, for my career was pretty nearly brought to an end by a bear, just after i entered the army, some thirty years ago, at a spot within a few miles from here. i have got the scars on my shoulder and arm still."
"oh, do tell me all about it," miss hastings said; and the request being seconded by the rest of the party, none of whom, with the exception of mrs. hastings, had ever heard the story before—for the colonel was somewhat chary of relating this special experience—he waited till they had all drawn up their chairs as close as possible, and then giving two or three vigorous puffs at his cheroot, began as follows:—
"thirty years ago, in 1855, things were not so settled in the deccan as they are now. there was no idea of insurrection on a large scale, but we were going through one of those outbreaks of dacoity, which have several times proved so troublesome. bands of marauders kept the country in confusion, pouring down on a village, now carrying off three or four of the bombay money-lenders, who were then, as now, the curse of the country; sometimes making an onslaught upon a body of traders; and occasionally venturing to attack small detachments of troops or isolated parties of police. they were not very formidable, but they were very troublesome, and most difficult to catch, for the peasantry regarded them as patriots, and aided and shielded them in every way. the head-quarters of these gangs of dacoits were the ghauts. in the thick bush and deep valleys and gorges there they could always take refuge, while sometimes the more daring chiefs converted these detached peaks and masses of rock, numbers of which you can see as you come up the ghaut by railway, into almost impregnable fortresses. many of these masses of rock rise as sheer up from the hillside as walls of masonry, and look at a short distance like ruined castles. some are absolutely inaccessible; others can only be scaled by experienced climbers; and, although possible for the natives with their bare feet, are impracticable to european troops. many of these rock fortresses were at various times the head-quarters of famous dacoit leaders, and unless the summits happened to be commanded from some higher ground within gunshot range they were all but impregnable except by starvation. when driven to bay, these fellows would fight well.
"well, about the time i joined, the dacoits were unusually troublesome; the police had a hard time of it, and almost lived in the saddle, and the cavalry were constantly called up to help them, while detachments of infantry from the station were under canvas at several places along the top of the ghauts to cut the bands off from their strongholds, and to aid, if necessary, in turning them out of their rock fortresses. the natives in the valleys at the foot of the ghauts, who have always been a semi-independent race, ready to rob whenever they saw a chance, were great friends with the dacoits, and supplied them with provisions whenever the hunt on the deccan was too hot for them to make raids in that direction.
"this is a long introduction, you will say, and does not seem to have much to do with bears; but it is really necessary, as you will see. i had joined about six months when three companies of the regiment were ordered to relieve a wing of the 15th, who had been under canvas at a village some four miles to the north of the point where the line crosses the top of the ghauts. there were three white officers, and little enough to do, except when a party was sent off to assist the police. we had one or two brushes with the dacoits, but i was not out on either occasion. however, there was plenty of shooting, and a good many pigs about, so we had very good fun. of course, as a raw hand, i was very hot for it, and as the others had both passed the enthusiastic age, except for pig-sticking and big game, i could always get away. i was supposed not to go far from camp, because, in the first place, i might be wanted; and, in the second, because of the dacoits; and norworthy, who was in command, used to impress upon me that i ought not to go beyond the sound of a bugle. of course we both knew that if i intended to get any sport i must go further afoot than this; but i merely used to say 'all right, sir, i will keep an ear to the camp,' and he on his part never considered it necessary to ask where the game which appeared on the table came from. but in point of fact, i never went very far, and my servant always had instructions which way to send for me if i was wanted; while as to the dacoits i did not believe in their having the impudence to come in broad daylight within a mile or two of our camp. i did not often go down the face of the ghauts. the shooting was good, and there were plenty of bears in those days, but it needed a long day for such an expedition, and in view of the dacoits who might be scattered about, was not the sort of thing to be undertaken except with a strong party. norworthy had not given any precise orders about it, but i must admit that he said one day:—
"'of course you won't be fool enough to think of going down the ghauts, hastings?' but i did not look at that as equivalent to a direct order—whatever i should do now," the colonel put in, on seeing a furtive smile on the faces of his male listeners.
"however, i never meant to go down, though i used to stand on the edge and look longingly down into the bush and fancy i saw bears moving about in scores. but i don't think i should have gone into their country if they had not come into mine. one day the fellow who always carried my spare gun or flask, and who was a sort of shekarry in a small way, told me he had heard that a farmer, whose house stood near the edge of the ghauts, some two miles away, had been seriously annoyed by his fruit and corn being stolen by bears.
"'i'll go and have a look at the place to-morrow,' i said, 'there is no parade, and i can start early. you may as well tell the mess cook to put up a basket with some tiffin and a bottle of claret, and get a boy to carry it over.'
"'the bears not come in day,' rahman said.
"'of course not,' i replied; 'still i may like to find out which way they come. just do as you are told.'
"the next morning, at seven o'clock, i was at the farmer's spoken of, and there was no mistake as to the bears. a patch of indian corn had been ruined by them, and two dogs had been killed. the native was in a terrible state of rage and alarm. he said that on moonlight nights he had seen eight of them, and they came and sniffed around the door of the cottage.
"'why don't you fire through the window at them?' i asked scornfully, for i had seen a score of tame bears in captivity, and, like you, mary, was inclined to despise them, though there was far less excuse for me; for i had heard stories which should have convinced me that, small as he is, the indian bear is not a beast to be attacked with impunity. 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 watercourse, 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. i waited, hesitating for a few minutes, and then i said to myself, 'it is of no use waiting. i could go down and get a bear and be back again while i am thinking of it;' then to rahman, 'no, come along; we will have a look through that wood anyhow.'
"rahman evidently did not like it.
"'not easy find bear, sahib. he very cunning.'
"'well, very likely we sha'n't find them,' i said, 'but we can try anyhow. bring that bottle with you; the tiffin basket can wait here till we come back.' in another five minutes i had begun to climb down the watercourse—the shekarry following me. i took the double-barrelled rifle and handed him the shot-gun, having first dropped a bullet down each barrel over the charge. the ravine was steep, but there were bushes to hold on by, and although it was hot work and took a good deal longer than i expected, we at last got down to the place which i had fixed upon as likely to be the bears' home.
"'sahib, climb up top,' rahman said; 'come down through wood; no good fire at bear when he above.'
"i had heard that before; but i was hot, the sun was pouring down, there was not a breath of wind, and it looked a long way up to the top of the wood.
"'give me the claret. it would take too long to search the wood regularly. 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.
"my gun, rahman," i shouted. "my gun, rahman," i shouted.
"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. stupidly, being taken by surprise, and being new at it, i fired at once at its head. the bear gave a spring, and then—it seemed instantaneous—down it came at me. whether it rolled down, or slipped down, or ran down, i don't know, but it came almost as if it had jumped straight at me.
"'my gun, rahman,' i shouted, holding out my hand. there was no answer. i glanced round, and found that the scoundrel had bolted. i had time, and only just time, to take a step backwards, and to club my rifle, when the brute was upon me. i got one fair blow at the side of its head, a blow that would have smashed the skull of any civilized beast into pieces, and which did fortunately break the brute's jaw; then in an instant he was upon me, and i was fighting for life. my hunting-knife was out, and with my left hand i had the beast by the throat; while with my right i tried to drive my knife into its ribs. my bullet had gone through his chest. the impetus of his charge had knocked me over, and we rolled on the ground, he tearing with his claws at my shoulder and arm, i stabbing and struggling, my great effort being to keep my knees up so as to protect my body with them from his hind claws. after the first blow with his paw, which laid my shoulder open, i do not think i felt any special pain whatever. there was a strange faint sensation, and my whole energy seemed centered in the two ideas—to strike and to keep my knees up. i knew that i was getting faint, but i was dimly conscious that his efforts, too, were relaxing. his weight on me seemed to increase enormously, and the last idea that flashed across me was that it was a drawn fight.
"the next idea of which i was conscious was that i was being carried. i seemed to be swinging about, and i thought i was at sea. then there was a little jolt and a sense of pain. 'a collision,' i muttered, and opened my eyes. beyond the fact that i seemed in a yellow world—a bright orange-yellow—my eyes did not help me, and i lay vaguely wondering about it all, till the rocking ceased. there was another bump, and then the yellow world seemed to come to an end; and as the daylight streamed in upon me i fainted again. this time when i awoke to consciousness things were clearer. i was stretched by a little stream. a native woman was sprinkling my face and washing the blood from my wounds; while another, who had with my own knife cut off my coat and shirt, was tearing the latter into strips to bandage my wounds. the yellow world was explained. i was lying on the yellow robe of one of the women. they had tied the ends together, placed a long stick through them, and carried me in the bag-like hammock. they nodded to me when they saw i was conscious, and brought water in a large leaf, and poured it into my mouth. then one went away for some time, and came back with some leaves and bark. these they chewed and put on my wounds, bound them up with strips of my shirt, and then again knotted the ends of the cloth, and lifting me up, went on as before.
"i was sure that we were much lower down the ghaut than we had been when i was watching for the bears, and we were now going still lower. however, i knew very little hindustani, nothing of the language the women spoke. i was too weak to stand, too weak even to think much; and i dozed and woke, and dozed again, until, after what seemed to me many hours of travel, we stopped again, this time before a tent. two or three old women and four or five men came out, and there was great talking between them and the young women—for they were young—who had carried me down. some of the party appeared angry; but at last things quieted down, and i was carried into the tent. i had fever, and was, i suppose, delirious for days. i afterwards found that for fully a fortnight i had lost all consciousness; but a good constitution and the nursing of the women pulled me round. when once the fever had gone, i began to mend rapidly. i tried to explain to the women that if they would go up to the camp and tell them where i was they would be well rewarded; but although i was sure they understood, they shook their heads, and by the fact that as i became stronger two or three armed men always hung about the tent, i came to the conclusion that i was a sort of prisoner. this was annoying, but did not seem serious. if these people were dacoits, or, as was more likely, allies of the dacoits, i could be kept only for ransom or exchange. moreover, i felt sure of my ability to escape when i got strong, especially as i believed that in the young women who had saved my life, both by bringing me down and by their careful nursing, i should find friends."
"were they pretty, uncle?" mary hastings broke in.
"never mind whether they were pretty, mary; they were better than pretty."
"no; but we like to know, uncle."
"well, except for the soft, dark eyes, common to the race, and the good temper and lightheartedness, also so general among hindu girls, and the tenderness which women feel towards a creature whose life they have saved, whether it is a wounded bird or a drowning puppy, i suppose they were nothing remarkable in the way of beauty, but at the time i know that i thought them charming.
