114 ACROSS MONGOLIAN PLAINS 



tions whose very life depended upon their ability to come 

 and go at will. To them, the hills, the sun, the grass, 

 the sand all have become the street signs of the desert. 



In the afternoon of our second day I remained at the 

 tents to measure specimens, while Yvette and the lama 

 rode out toward the scene of our morning hunt to locate 

 an antelope which one of our Mongol neighbors had re- 

 ported dead not far away. At six o'clock they came gal- 

 loping back with the news that there were two gazelles 

 within three miles of camp. I saddled Kublai Khan and 

 left with them at once. Twenty minutes of steady trot- 

 ting brought us to the summit of a slope, where we could 

 see the animals quietly feeding not five hundred yards 

 away. 



It was just possible to stalk them for a long-range 

 shot, and slipping off my pony, I flattened out upon 

 the ground. On hands and knees, and sometimes at full 

 length, I wormed my way through the grass for one 

 hundred yards. The cover ended there and I must shoot 

 or come into full view of the gazelles. They were so far 

 away that the front sight entirely covered the animals, 

 and to increase the difficulty, both were walking slowly. 

 The first bullet struck low and to the right, but the 

 antelope only jumped and stared fixedly in my direc- 

 tion ; at the second shot one went down. The other ani- 

 mal dashed away like a flash of lightning, and although 

 I sent a bullet after its white rump-patch, the shot was 

 hopeless. 



The antelope I had knocked over got to its feet and 

 tried desperately to get away, but the lama leaped on 



