GREAT RAM OF THE SHANSI MOUNTAINS 191 



follow the death of a foreigner. The brigands know that 

 there would be no sham battle with Chinese soldiers in 

 that event, for the Legations at Peking have a habit of 

 demanding reparation from the Government and insist- 

 ing that they get it. 



As a raison d'etre for our trip Caldwell and I had 

 been hunting ducks, geese, and pheasants industriously 

 along the way, and not even the "boys" knew our real 

 destination. 



We had looked forward with great eagerness to the 

 Tai Hai, a large lake, where it was said that water fowl 

 congregated in thousands during the spring and fall. 

 We reached the lake the second night after leaving 

 Feng-cheng. Darkness had just closed about us when 

 we crossed the summit of a high mountain range and 

 descended into a narrow, winding cut which eventually 

 led us out upon the flat plains of the Tai Hai basin. 

 While we were in the pass a dozen flocks of geese slipped 

 by above our heads, flying very low, the "wedges" show- 

 ing black against the starlit sky. 



With much difficulty we found an inn close beside the 

 lake and, after a late supper, snuggled into our fur bags 

 to be lulled to sleep by that music most dear to a sports- 

 man's heart, the subdued clamor of thousands of water- 

 fowl settling themselves for the night. 



At daylight we dressed hurriedly and ran to the lake 

 shore. Harry took a station away from the water at 

 the base of the hills, while I dropped behind three coni- 

 cal mounds which the natives had constructed to obtain 

 salt by evaporation. 



