SPORT IN THE HIGHLANDS 575 



the horses had ceased, and they stood with hanging 

 heads, satiated with a night's grazing on the short, rich 

 grass. A faint grey hght began to creep into the east ; 

 the stars disappeared slowly before its ever-increasing 

 strength ; the snowy summits turned from grey to a 

 delicate pink, and then hardened as that longed-for sun- 

 line crept down towards us ; and then, with a leap, 

 the great fiery ball rose clear of the hills and bathed us 

 in its welcome rays. Snow-cock began to chuckle round 

 us, and chats and snow-finches to flit from rock to rock. 

 Black specks far away on a skyline indicated a hungry 

 herd of sheep. Of all this wild life, the lazy, over-eaten 

 marmot alone remained curled up at the bottom of his 

 snug burrow, waiting for the sun to gain in power before 

 he ventured out. But the beauties of nature do not 

 compensate for the absence of breakfast, and we lost no 

 time in searching the surrounding country from a neigh- 

 bouring eminence. As no human being was within sight, 

 we decided to make straight for the Urta Saryk, since, 

 even if Carruthers' camp were difiicult to find, there 

 was a small Kalmuk post at which we could get food. 

 Four hours' riding took us off the plateau, down the well- 

 timbered valley to the main stream. 



Here we fell in with some herdsmen, one of whom 

 we " pressed " as a guide. At four in the afternoon, 

 after fording the river, we came upon that welcome green 

 tent pitched among some pines, and lost no time in 

 putting ourselves outside a kettle of tea and pounds of 

 bread and meat. 



A man was at once despatched to find our caravan ; 



it turned up next day with a very anxious Pereira at its 



head. We were never able to find out exactly who was 



to blame in this matter, since each of the Kalmuks noisily 



II — 17 



