' 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 When the stick was withdrawn there were 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 



