162 ACROSS MONGOLIAN PLAINS 



to spend the night. He returned in the first gray light 

 of dawn, just as I was making coffee, and reported that 

 he had heard wapiti barking, but that no animals had 

 visited the lick. He directed me to go along the hill- 

 sides north of camp, while the Mongol hunters struck 

 westward across the mountains. 



I had not been gone an hour, and had just worked 

 across the lower end of a deep ravine, when I heard a 

 wapiti bark above and behind me. It was a hoarse roar, 

 exactly like a roebuck, except that it was deeper toned 

 and louder. I was thrilled as though by an electric cur- 

 rent. It seemed very far away, much farther than it 

 really was, and as I crept to the summit of a ridge a 

 splendid bull wapiti broke through the underbrush. He 

 had been feeding in the bottom of the ravine and saw 

 my head instantly as it appeared above the sky line. 

 There was no chance to shoot because of the heavy 

 cover; and even when he paused for a moment on the 

 opposite hillside a screen of tree branches was in my 

 way. 



Absolutely disgusted with myself, I followed the ani- 

 mal's trail until it was lost in the heavy forest. The 

 wapiti was gone for good, but on the way back to camp 

 I picked up a roebuck which acted as some balm to my 

 injured feelings. 



I had climbed to the crest of the mountains enclosing 

 the valley in which we were camped, and was working 

 slowly down the rim of a deep ravine. In my soft 

 leather moccasins I could walk over the springy moss 

 without a sound, and suddenly saw a yellow-red form 



