After Antelope in Tibet 231 



put his foot into a rat hole and rolled me gently 

 on to the ground. I fired some shots in desper- 

 ation, the foresight of my rifle wobbling about 

 the brute's bobbing stern, but failed to stop 

 him, and thus had the mortification of seeing my 

 first Tibetan antelope go away. When he was 

 almost out of sight even with the glasses, he 

 made for the slopes and became hidden behind 

 a small spur. One is loath to leave a wounded 

 beast ; and though it was getting dusk, I went 

 after him on the chance of his having lain down. 

 Very cautiously I ascended the slope. Suddenly 

 a clatter of stones from below me, and out rushed 

 the buck, going at a great pace. A shot at ten 

 yards, however even a snap is not to be missed, 

 and to the crack of the rifle he rolled over. He 

 carried a fine head, the horns measuring over 

 twenty -four inches. Through one of them a small 

 splintered hole showed where one of my wild 

 shots had gone. I was never more delighted 

 at getting a beast. 



There is something very charming, at any 

 rate to the official person, in being out of reach 

 of post and telegraph ; and here we enjoyed a 

 sense of freedom engendered by the many miles 

 of mountainous desert land that lay between 

 us and the nearest railway. But an altitude 

 of 16,000 feet above sea-level is a wonderful 



