SINO-MONGOLIAN FRONTIER 



We were up before daybreak the following morn- 

 ing, and after a hasty breakfast started up the 

 valley in search of wapiti. A long and strenuous 

 climb brought us to the top of a high ridge between 

 two peaks. Here the winter snows still lay deep 

 on the shady side, and we could see the large fresh 

 tracks of our quarry, and mark the spots where 

 they had bedded down the day before. We climbed 

 almost to the summit of one of the peaks, but 

 finding no further tracks descended into a valley, 

 along which we worked. Here I picked up a good 

 fresh trail, and with Warrington keeping close 

 behind me, followed it along the steep slopes. It 

 led us across small ravines, round the shoulders 

 of sharp ridges, over rocky screes, and through 

 dense patches of hazel-scrub, but the trail grew ever 

 fresher. At last as we topped one of the knife- 

 like ridges, the graceful form of a large deer sprang 

 from the scrub below us, and with long, easy 

 bounds went sailing like thistledown across a wide 

 ravine. Vainly we discharged our rifles again 

 and again. Once the deer staggered, but recover- 

 ing continued, till just as he reached and be- 

 gan to climb the opposite ridge, a shot from 

 Warrington's rifle brought him to his knees. For 

 a bit he struggled madly to continue, but presently 

 lay quiet in some tall grass. Sending Warrington 

 across to knife, if necessary, the wounded animal, 

 I took up a commanding position upon the ridge, 

 and prepared to intercept the deer if he attempted 



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