110 ACROSS MONGOLIAN PLAINS 



a previous chapter, conditions on the plains are so un- 

 usual that shooting in other parts of the world is no cri- 

 terion. After one gets the range of an animal which, 

 like the antelope, has a smooth, even run, it is not so 

 difficult to hit as one might imagine. Practice is the 

 great essential. At the beginning I averaged one an- 

 telope to every eight cartridges, but later my score was 

 one to three. 



We spent the afternoon at the new camp, setting 

 traps and preparing for the days to come days in 

 which we knew, from long experience, we would have 

 every waking moment full of work. The nights were 

 shortening rapidly, and the sun did not dip below the 

 rim of our vast, flat world until half past seven. Then 

 there was an hour of delightful, lingering twilight, when 

 the stars began to show in tiny points of light ; by nine 

 o'clock the brooding silence of the Mongolian night had 

 settled over all the plain. 



Daylight came at four o'clock, and before the sun 

 rose we had finished breakfast. Our traps held five 

 marmots and a beautiful golden-yellow polecat (Mus- 

 tela) . I have never seen such an incarnation of fury as 

 this animal presented. It might have been the original 

 of the Chinese dragon, except for its small size. Its 

 long, slender body twisted and turned with incredible 

 swiftness, every hair was bristling, and its snarling little 

 face emitted horrible squeaks and spitting squeals. It 

 seemed to be cursing us in every language of the pole- 

 cat tribe. 



The fierce little beast was evidently bent upon a night 



