HUNTING ANTELOPES 289 



bade farewell to the Wild Sheep country ; and I must 

 own that it was a relief to find oneself once more on 

 the lower steppe. 



Next day the weather was again fine and ex- 

 cessively warm. Littledale and I went to different 

 sides of the river after Antelope. Not far from camp 

 I found a herd of about a hundred with some good 

 bucks amongst them, but as there was no means of 

 approaching them on the flat plain I suggested that 

 they should be driven towards us by my second 

 Kalmuk, who was instructed to make as wide a 

 detour as he could before showing himself. He had 

 not gone far before the whole herd suddenly got up, 

 and, strange to say, darted at headlong" speed towards 

 the place where I was lying. I took a running shot 

 as they passed within a hundred yards of me, and 

 dropped one of them, which I found to be an old 

 buck. Taba, who was an old hand at this game, said 

 the best way to secure one was to gallop straight 

 towards them, in which case, instead of running away, 

 they rush in confusion at right angles to the hunter's 

 direction, and then begins an extraordinary chase, the 

 Antelopes making an outward circle, whilst the ponies 

 gallop parallel to them in an inner one. As soon as 

 they are near enough, the hunter drops off his saddle 

 and shoots. In this manner we galloped towards 



