RETURN TO CHINA 181 



Whilst from an eminence we watched several 

 small herds, that nearest us suddenly broke into 

 a frightened gallop, and a large wolf cantered 

 sedately out of a hollow on our right. He was 

 a fine-looking beast, grey and tawny, but un- 

 fortunately out of shot. I fired at a female gazelle 

 later, as we wanted meat, but exaggerated the 

 distance and went over her back. ^They were 

 rather wild, but had we been able to hunt them 

 properly from the village I have no doubt that 

 on a fine day, with care and patience, we should 

 have killed two or three bucks. However, as we 

 killed gazelle crossing the Gobi Desert, I will 

 say no more about those we saw here. 



Shortly after we joined our ponies it began 

 to snow, and continued bitterly cold all the way 

 to Taochow, which we reached about 4.30. So 

 ended a trip that was a failure. 



The superstitious reader may perhaps derive 

 satisfaction from the knowledge that our start 

 was made on Friday, October 13th. 



