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.