SPEED MARVELS OF THE GOBI DESERT 19 



sixty miles "an hour. This is probably the maximum 

 which is attained only in the initial sprint and after a 

 very short distance the animals must slow down to about 

 forty miles; a short distance more and they drop to 

 twenty-five or thirty miles, and at this pace they seem 

 able to continue almost indefinitely. They never ran 

 faster than was necessary to keep well away from us. 

 As we opened the throttle of the car they, too, increased 

 their speed. It was only when we began to shoot and 

 they became thoroughly frightened that they showed 

 what they could do. 



I remember especially one fine buck which gave us an 

 exhibition of really high-class running. He started al- 

 most opposite to us when we were on a stretch of splen- 

 did road and jogged comfortably along at thirty-five 

 miles an hour. Our car was running at the same speed, 

 but he decided to cross in front and pressed his accelera- 

 tor a little. Coltman also touched ours, and the motor 

 jumped to forty miles. The antelope seemed very much 

 surprised and gave his accelerator another push. Colt- 

 man did likewise, and the speedometer registered forty- 

 five miles. That was about enough for us, and we held 

 our speed. The animal drew ahead on a long curve 

 swinging across in fi-ont of the car. He had beaten us 

 by a hundred yards! 



But we had a surprise in store for him, for Coltman 

 suddenly shut off the gas and threw on both brakes. 

 Before the motor had fully stopped we opened fire. The 

 first two bullets struck just behind the antelope and a 

 third kicked the dust between his legs. The shock turned 



