NEW TRAVELS ON AN OLD TRAIL 47 



"If was a wonderful shot — four hundred and twenty 

 yards measured distance. No, this isn't a woman's in- 

 accuracy of figures, it's a fact. But then you must re- 

 member the extraordinary clearness of the air in Mon- 

 golia, where every object appears to be magnified half 

 a dozen times. The brilliant atmosphere is one of the 

 most bewildering things of the desert. Once we 

 thought we saw an antelope grazing on the hillside 

 and Mr. Coltman remarked disdainfully: 'Pooh, that's 

 a horse.' But the laugh was on him for as we drew 

 near the 'horse' proved to be only a bleached bone. At 

 a short distance camels and ponies stood out as though 

 cut in steel, seeming as high as a village church steeple ; 

 and, most ridiculous of aU, my husband mistook me 

 once at a long, long distance for a telegraph polel 

 Tartarin de Tarascon would have had some wonderful 

 stories to tell of Mongolia!" 



We had hardly reached the road again before Mrs. 

 Coltman discovered a great herd of antelope on the 

 slope of a low hill, and when the cars carried us over 

 the crest we could see animals in every direction, feed- 

 ing in pairs or in groups of ten to forty. 



We all agreed that no better place could be found 

 at which to obtain motion pictures and camp was made 

 forthwith. Unfortunately, the gazelles were shedding 

 their winter coats and the skins were useless except for 

 study; however, I did need half a dozen skeletons, so 

 the animals we killed would not be wasted. 



It was four o'clock in the afternoon when the tents 

 were up and too late to take pictures; therefore, the 



