Across the Roof of the W^^rkl. 



opposite sides. We bhmderecl on after them, and reached a 

 point where the ground commanded a view of tlie stream, on the 

 far side of which the herd, or rather part of it, was then gathered. 

 There was no time to be lost, so I singled out the biggest and let 

 drive at him, bringing him down with a bump and crash into the 

 bushes lining the bank. I descended to the fallen monarch, 

 whose horns taped 45^ inches, and after cutting off the head and 

 skin proceeded to try and find the track of the wounded one, 

 whose horns I felt sure must be well over 50 inches. We spent 

 some time seeking the trail, but it was difficult following the 

 blood tracks in the grass, as they were somewhat scanty and 

 not sufficient to assist us much. 



We then decided to resume the trail on the morrow, and 

 started to w^ork round the base of the hills to the point where 

 the Kazak log hut was situated, and where camp should by 

 this time have arrived. It took us some two hours of hard 

 up and down tramping to get there, by which time it was 

 almost dark. There was no sign of the caravan and no 

 response to our stentorian shouts, only the echo amongst the 

 hills. As it was cold and froze at night I was not looking forward 

 to sleeping in the open without covering other than a shooting 

 suit, so we w'cnt dowm to the log hut and amassed all the grass 

 near by for a couch in the event of having to make the best of 

 the situation. We soon gave up hope of seeing the caravan 

 that night, and, uncertain how far distant it might be, and the 

 darkness being intense, burrowed beneath the mound of grass 

 collected and shivered through the night. The grass, too, w'as 

 somewhat damp, so this did not improve matters. However, 

 these little incidents must occur at times and one learns to take 

 them philosophically as one should. Neither of us had any 

 matches, nor liad Nurali on him the usual flint and tinder 

 one often sees amongst the Kalmuks, and especially the Mongols, 

 so it w^as a case of no matches, no fire. It was very cold even 

 for Nurah, and we were glad when at last Giyani appeared on the 

 scene at seven the following morning with the kit. He, with the 



23S 



