In the direction Li Long was looking, something moved farther up the mountain, nearly two hundred meters away, then disappeared.
Li Long had only caught a glimpse, but he could tell it was probably a snow leopard. It was extremely wary and had hidden the instant it spotted people.
It had probably smelled the blood and come to take a look, only to flee when Li Long noticed it.
He figured it would come back. After all, they would soon be leaving a large pile of brown bear entrails here.
Li Long raised his rifle and aimed in that direction, but the creature never showed itself again.
He kept his rifle up for quite a while. Bek and the others had finished skinning and butchering the bear, yet there was still no sign of the snow leopard, so Li Long had to give up.
If he could shoot a snow leopard as well as a bear today, that would really make the trip complete.
Unfortunately, the snow leopard was so alert that it refused to show itself again!
They left the bear's head behind, skinned it, removed its entrails, and packed the meat and paws into four sacks, intending for each person to carry one back.
The hide was more troublesome. It alone weighed over ten kilograms.
"I'll take it." Li Long was strong. He slung his rifle over his back, tucked a sack of bear meat under one arm, cradled the rolled-up hide in his other hand, and strode back.
The spot where they had shot the bear was too steep, making it difficult to climb back up, so they detoured into another ravine and descended from there.
On the way back, Li Long kept looking around, hoping to find the little brown bear, but he still saw no