SINO-MONGOLIAN FRONTIER 



independence and lagged in the rear, nibbling at 

 tufts of grass along the path. 



All these details I took in as I slowly raised my 

 rifle. The leader must have caught the sun-flash 

 on my rifle-barrel, for he suddenly looked straight 

 up at me. It was now or never, so keeping the 

 sights low I pressed the trigger. The leader 

 collapsed, kicked once or twice and lay still. I 

 tried a second hurried shot at the third ram, as he 

 turned and dashed out of the ravine, but failed 

 to hit him. Scarcely believing my eyes, I care- 

 fully descended towards the ram, keeping a sharp 

 look-out, with my rifle ready in case he should 

 get up and start off, as so often happens with big 

 game. My precautions were unnecessary, however, 

 as he was stone dead. My bullet had taken him 

 in the spine, just above the shoulder, where it 

 had lodged. A hot wave passed down my back 

 as I realized how nearly I had missed him. After 

 taking some photographs, the hunter and I skinned 

 the ram, which, on measurements being taken, 

 was found to be 45 1 inches at the shoulder, and 

 55 J inches round the chest. The horns at their 

 base had a circumference of 18 J inches, and were 

 43 inches in length, having one complete turn. 



The following day, after a fruitless chase after 

 a couple of gorals, we struck camp and returned 

 to K'uei-hua-ch'eng. My traps yielded nothing 

 whatsoever during our stay in the sheep country, 

 from which it may be inferred that that country is 



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