SPORT AND SCIENCE ON THE 



their stride, while to right and left as we passed 

 through clumps of sage brush or sedge grass, the 

 startled hares skipped out of our way, or the 

 ground squirrels dived into their holes, giving 

 shrill little shrieks of indignation and kicking up 

 spirts of sand behind them. In an amazingly 

 short time we had covered the five or six miles 

 to the hills, climbing w^hich, we obtained an ex- 

 tended view of the valleys and plains. Soon we 

 spotted a herd of antelopes. These caught sight 

 of us almost as soon as we saw them, and splitting 

 up they made off at top speed. ^Varrington, 

 Larson and one of the ^Mongols went off after the 

 main herd, while I, with the other Mongol, followed 

 two fine-looking bucks, that had broken away in 

 another direction. It must be understood that 

 the plains are gently undulating, so that hollows 

 and low eminences alternate like the great rollers 

 of the gently heaving ocean. Presently our two 

 antelopes disappeared into one of these hollows. 

 At once we urged our ponies to their utmost, and 

 by so doing gained considerably upon our quarry 

 without alarming them further. ^Mien next we 

 caught sight of them, they were not more than 

 eight hundred yards distant. 



They now cut a semicircle round us and once 

 more started off, soon being lost to view in another 

 hollow, along which they travelled at an easy 

 trot. Taking a parallel hollow, we again pressed 

 our ponies, gaining another two himdred yards 



162 



