Across the Roof of the World. 



we then were, and choose a suitable spot in a side ravine. I 

 started off with Nurah to regain touch with the wapiti, who was 

 calling in a half-hearted sort of way until finally he ceased 

 altogether. This rather puzzled me as the wind was right and 

 we had not made any noise, but Nurah said he had come across 

 some " maral " (hinds) and would not therefore budge. This 

 proved to be the case, for presently we got a glimpse of a few of 

 them. To attempt to get nearer was too risky as the place was 

 dense forest, the ground being covered with a debris of branches, 

 dry leaves and twigs of all kinds. 



We therefore went back up the valley for a couple of miles 

 and selected a spot for the bivouac, shortly after which Numgoon 

 and Rasul with the baggage put in an appearance and we cleared 

 a space under some firs. 



We were off again at four that afternoon, shaping a course 

 down the valley and then up the opposite side, finally gaining 

 the same ridge where the wapiti had been sighted in the morning. 

 Patience and perseverance were rewarded, for soon we heard the 

 stag call quite close, though the forest was too thick for us to 

 get a view of him. Whilst there we heard a second one call in 

 the valley below, so that we were obviously on good ground. 

 I was in high hopes one of them might move towards us, but 

 when it got dusk and the light too bad for shooting, even had a 

 chance of a shot offered itself, I decided to return to the bivouac 

 some distance up the valley. 



Both my Kalmuks were confident we should get on to the stag's 

 trail the following day, and as we were on undoubtedly favourable 

 ground I, too, was fairly sanguine. We started next morning 

 before 3 o'clock, going up through the forest to the crest line near 

 where we had heard the wapiti the previous evening. Thence we 

 descended a short distance and struck east through the jungle, 

 Nurah calling at intervals. On the way we saw a small stag a 

 long way oft' on the other side of the valley. He was with two 

 hinds and they were gradually working down into the valley 

 beneath us. Further on we saw another just going into tlie forest 



262 



