sad loss of Jane's field-glasses, which, carried by her syce in a boot-bag,
were dropped in a stream by that idiot while crossing, he having lost his
footing in a pool, and, clutching wildly at the pony's reins, let go the
precious binoculars.

This morning we were up betimes, Mrs. Locock having ordained a bear "honk"!
This was, to me, a new departure in shikar, and truly it was amusing to
see the shikari, bursting with importance, mustering the forty half-naked
coolies whom he had collected to beat. A couple of men with tom-toms slung
round their necks completed the party, which marched in straggling
procession out of the village at dawn.

A mile of easy walking brought us to the rough jungly cliffs, seamed with
transverse nullahs, narrow and steep, which bordered the river. Here we
were placed in passes, with great caution and mystery, by the shikari and
his chief-of-the-staff--the "oldest inhabitant" of Vernaboug; and here we
sat in the morning stillness until a distant clamour and the faint beating
of tom-toms afar off made us sit up more warily, and watch eagerly for the
expected bear.

The yells increase, and the tom-toms, vigorously banged, seem calculated
to fuss any self-respecting bear into fits. We watch a narrow space
between two bushes some dozen yards away, and see that the Mannlicher
across our knees and the smooth-bore, ball loaded in the right and
chokeless barrel, lie handy for instant use.

Hidden in the dense jungle, some hundred yards below, sits Mrs. Locock on
the matted top of a hazel, while Jane, chittering with suppressed
excitement, crouches a few paces behind me.

The beaters approach, and pandemonium reigns. A few scared birds dart past,
but no bear comes; and when the first brown body shows among the brushwood
we shout to stop the uproar, and all move on to another beat.

Four "honks" produced nothing, so far as I was concerned; but a
bear--according to her shikari--passed close by Mrs. Locock, so thickly
screened by jungle that she couldn't see it. This may be so, but Kashmir
shikaris have remarkably vivid imaginations.

After a delightful morning to all parties concerned--for we were much
amused, the coolies were adequately paid, and the bear wasn't worried--we
returned to breakfast, and then marched fifteen hot miles into Gunderbal,
where we found the Smithsons, with whom we dined. They have been in Gurais
and the Tilail district ever since they left Srinagar on the 24th April,
a