We moved on to another part of the forest, and the same programme of
taking our positions and arranging the course of the beaters was gone
through; but we met with no success. This was the more provoking,
because on our return we found the fresh slot of a bear. He had
evidently just saved himself in time; the marks of his claws were quite
visible in the soft mud.
These footprints were all we were destined to see, for evening was
drawing on, and it was impossible to pursue the sport any farther. Of
course we commenced operations far too late in the day; it was simply
ridiculous to begin at such a late hour in the autumn afternoon. It was
very disappointing; but there is so much of mere chance in bear-hunting,
that where one man has the luck to kill four or five in a season,
another may go on for two years following without getting as much as a
shot.
The sportsman will be glad to hear, though the farmer is of quite
another mind, that bears, wolves, and wild-boar are increasing very much
in the Carpathians generally. I have mentioned this fact before, but I
allude to it again because it was everywhere corroborated. On all sides
this increase is attributed to the tax on firearms, which deters the
peasants from keeping them down. They are often too poor to pay for a
shooting licence and the gun-tax.
Toplicza has some warm mineral springs. Warm water seems to be turned on
everywhere in Hungary.
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