SPORT ON THE PLATEAUX 341 



pair of field-glasses, or an automatic pistol, and request 

 him politely but firmly, to supply you with men for as 

 long as you wish to remain in his district. On this 

 occasion I had all the men up and pointed out, through 

 Makandaroff, that if there was any more grumbUng, 

 we would report the matter to the authorities at Suok, 

 and have them severely beaten. This quieted them for 

 the time, but they continued to work in a very half- 

 hearted manner. 



Carruthers did not get back to camp till a late hour 

 that night. As it began to grow dark we became a 

 little anxious, for to spend the night out without food 

 or fire, and with 20 degrees of frost, would be anything 

 but a cheerful experience. As large a fire as possible 

 was kept going with the limited supply of dry horse- 

 dung at our disposal, and every half-hour both barrels 

 of the i2-bore were fired off. At about nine o'clock 

 horses were heard approaching, and Carruthers and his 

 men rode into camp. It appeared that a band of 

 '* rams" had only been found late in the afternoon, and 

 that by the time he had got within shot it was getting 

 dark. He brought in one head, and had hopes of re- 

 trieving, on the following day, two more beasts that he 

 had hit, it being too late to follow them up at the time. 



It was one of those glorious, crisp, still mornings, 

 which one associates with the plateaux of Central Asia 

 in their most pleasant moods, as we sallied out on the 

 following day, and I felt thoroughly in tune with the 

 inspiring scene around me. As the old man and I 

 rode along over the springy turf, the shrill whistle of 

 the marmots resounded on every hand. By the autumn 

 these jolly animals have amassed such quantities of 

 fat, preparatory to their winter sleep, that they present 



