‘A JOURNEY IN THE EAST, 255 
for a brisk fight began, and we could hear the plaintive 
whines of the wounded dogs, the sharp barks of those that 
were fighting bravely, and the savage snarling 
lynx. 
For nearly an hour we stood by the den and there was no 
change in the situation, so we now tried to call out the dogs, 
in order that the lynx might have room to slip past. At last 
they appeared one after another covered with dust, and 
weary with the exertions of the fight; only two very keen 
ones would not come out. Suddenly we discovered a cleft in 
the rock, at the bottom of which we could distinctly hear the 
barking of the dogs. This crevice we enlarged as well as we 
could, and on probing the hole with a stick, I encountered a 
soft obstacle. When the stick was withdrawn there were 
grey lynx-hairs hanging to it, and looking carefully into the 
hole I saw the shining green eyes of the animal. I now 
drove the stick in against it as hard as I could, and soon 
felt that the soft body had disappeared, while the under- 
ground hunt was now audible, as the lynx retreated followed 
by the dogs. 
In a few seconds more the grey beast bolted out of the hole 
near which the Grand Duke was standing, and was met by a 
well-directed shot. Half rolling and half dragging itself 
along, the hard-hit creature was retreating under a large rock ; 
but luckily the plucky dogs held on to its hind quarters, and 
so Prince Taxis, by crawling in below the rock, managed to 
give it a finishing thrust with his hunting-knife. It was a 
fine female, but not nearly so large and powerful as the 
male which I had killed. 
After this success we gave up further search, and returned 
to the camp with the tired and more or less wounded dogs. 
During the morning the weather had grown worse, for the 
sky was covered with light grey clouds, and fine rain occa- 
sionally fell—a very rare occurrence in these regions. The 
