298 SHORT STALKS 



before me, I did not observe what B was doing. The 



next moment, to my horror, the dog trotted past me freed 



from his cord. 1 turned and asked B what he had done, 



whereupon lie began calling him back ; but it was too 

 late. At that moment " Smoke " shot ahead like an arrow, 

 and ten seconds later was heard barking furiously at the 

 heels of a deer, which rushed with tremendous chatter up 

 the slope. I sat down hoping to see under the branches. 

 One vision of brown hide I had — ^too brief to shoot. Achmet 

 said: " Boijonouz'' ("horns") and with a pantomimic 

 action of his arms indicated a pair of antlers. He was 

 probably right, for it was a solitary deer, but I could not 

 see them. Now this insane act of B— — 's was a great mis- 

 fortune, for it not only lost me a first-rate chance, — I must 

 in two minutes have looked down on the stao;'s broad 

 back as he was busy feeding in the bottom of the gully, — 

 but it was certain to ruin the steadiness of the dog. Sore 

 in spirit I stumbled camp wards. " Smoke," meanwhile, was 

 waking the echoes. AVhen he picked up my track and 

 rejoined me, three-quarters of an hour later, I had to give 

 him a thrashing, for his good, but it was sadly against the 

 grain, for his fault was no fault of his. 



Now we had agreed to move our camp that day from 

 its elevated position to a little meadow which we knew of by 

 the side of the main stream. This reached, we found, to our 

 disgust, no signs of our people, and it was now nearly pitch 

 dark. I thought something had prevented the removal, 

 and that we must climb a thousand feet higher to the old 

 camp. AVe expended nearly a box of matches in examin- 

 ing the horse tracks by the stream. I thought they were 

 all old. Achmet declared them to be fresh. At last he 



