2iS DONG (WILD YAK) SHOOTING 



but felt no exultation. I was sorry for the poor beast, and 

 besides, my very soul was shivering within me from the 

 intense cold, and the void within craved for a full pot of 

 hot, very hot, tea. Fortunately, the yaks had come up 

 with the camp ; we had not gone half a mile when we 

 met them. I had the tent pitched, and was under shelter 

 and taking the nourishment I so much needed in a very 

 short time. The storm continued, and the cold was intense 

 — everything was frozen, so I got under the blankets and 

 made myself as snug as I could. The arrival of the tent 

 was just in the nick of time ; in half an hour darkness 

 would have overtaken us out on that bleak hillside. I 

 had been out on the hill thirteen hours at a very high 

 elevation, most of the time undergoing severe physical 

 toil and no small mental excitement. The reaction which 

 should have set in with the cessation of work did not 

 come, and I could not sleep. The fearful weather, which 

 only two folds of cloth kept from me, added much to my 

 discomfort. 



Xext morning, when the storm lulled, we visited the 

 bull. The snow had shrouded the hills and valleys in 

 white, and so dazzling was the brilliancy that I had to 

 put on my goggles, though there was no sun-glare. The 

 morning was bitterly cold, and it was still cloudy. We 

 found the dong frozen ; he had died in a folded-up sitting 

 position, and felt as hard as a rock, being coated with 

 hardened snow. Nothing could be done with the huge 

 bulk till the sun came out and thawed it. The operation 

 of cutting off his head alone took more than two hours ; 

 the skinning and cutting up took the whole day. The 

 trophy was a magnificent one : I had never imagined such 

 massiveness and beauty. The second bullet I fired hit in 

 the right ribs, went through the liver, and was found 

 on the ribs on the left side, splayed like a mushroom 



