iy6 RECEIVIA'G THE CHARGE 



them in the mountains by going against the wind ; 

 in the open I usually stalked them in the following 

 way. When within three hundred paces I would 

 drop on my knees and raise my rifle above my head 

 with the stand inverted, so that the legs might look 

 like horns ; my costume, too, a Siberian shooting 

 coat made of young reindeer skin with the hair 

 outside, helped to deceive the short-sighted animal. 

 In this way I would crawl up to within 200 or even 

 150 yards, prop my rifle on its rest, place some 

 cartridges in my cap which I laid on the ground 

 beside me, and fire in a kneeling posture. If the 

 first shot took effect the animal would turn and go 

 off, followed by my bullets until it was out of range. 

 An old bull, however, would often charge with horns 

 lowered and tail up, but in a stupid indecisive 

 manner, advancing a few paces, and then stopping 

 and lashing its tail furiously ; a second shot, and it 

 would renew the charge vvith a similar result, until 

 after being pierced by perhaps a dozen bullets, when 

 it would fall dead, without having come nearer than 

 100 paces. Sometimes after being hit twice or 

 thrice it would take to flight, but on receiving 

 another wound it would turn and again offer a fair 

 mark for my rifle. Of all the yaks we killed, only 

 two advanced to within 40 paces of us, and these 

 would probably have come to closer quarters had 

 we not killed them. I should think, however, that 

 the nearer they are to the sportsman the more 

 cowardly and undecided they become. 



In order to give my readers a better notion of 



