about like
a lion, and more than that, he has a decided preference for human blood
before all other kinds of blood. We had been pursuing one of these old
malefactors four days running, as I have said; four times we got within
range of him and four times he broke away. He carried a few bullets away
with him beneath his hide, indeed, but a lot he cared about that! He
gave one or two of our badly-aiming huntsmen a clout on the head which
sent them flying, stripped the skin from the head of one of the beaters
and then took refuge in the wilderness. Friend Leonard and the other
gentlemen now wanted to abandon the chase, for they were frightfully
hungry and the heavy rain and rock scrambling had pretty well torn our
clothes from our bodies, yet I urged them to make another attempt on
the morrow. I assured them that if they beat up the wood once more we
should capture the bear. The whole lot of them were against me. Friend
Leonard insisted that we should not catch him, as a bear never remains
in the place where he has been wounded, but runs on and on night and
day; by this time he would have got right across the border into
Wallachia. 'Very well!' I said, 'What do you bet that he is not quite
near and we shall come upon him to-morrow?' Leonard replied he would bet
me two to one we shouldn't. 'All right!' said I. 'I'll pay you a hundred
ducats if we don't find Bruin to-morrow.' 'And I'll pay you a thousand
if we do,' said he. So the bet was clinched. Next morning in a thick
mist we sent out the beaters while we ourselves stood on our guard.
Leonard and I took up our post near a ravine waiting impatiently for the
mist to disperse. Towards mid-day it began to clear. No end of stags and
foxes ambled slowly past us, but we did not even aim at them; the bear
was our watchword. The beaters had pretty nearly finished their work. We
were standing only fifty paces or so apart, so we began to chat
together. 'I begin to be sorry for your hundred ducats,' said Leonard.
'I am still sorrier for the lost bear's skin,' said I. 'It is in
Wallachia by this time!' he replied. Behind my back, some ten yards off,
was the opening of a narrow hole; there were hundreds such in the rocks
all about. 'Come, now!' I cried, 'suppose my bear has stowed himself
away in this hollow!'--and there and then, like a mischievous little
boy, I poked the barrel of my gun into the hollow and fired off a couple
of shots in quick succession. A frightful roar came from th