122 ACROSS MONGOLIAN PLAINS 



The three gazelles lay almost the same distance apart, 

 each one shot through the body. It was interesting evi- 

 dence that the actions of working the lever on my rifle 

 and aiming, and the speed of the antelope, varied only 

 by a fraction of a second. ,In this case, brain and eye 

 and hand had fimctioned perfectly. Needless to say, I 

 do not always shoot like that. 



Two of the antelope were yearling bucks, and one was 

 a large doe. The lama took the female on his pony, 

 and I strapped the other two on Kublai Khan. When 

 I mounted, he was carrying a weight of two hundred 

 and eighty-five pounds, yet he kept his steady "home- 

 ward trot" without a break until we reached the carts 

 six miles away. 



Yvette had been afraid that we would miss the well 

 in the gathering darkness, and had made a "dry camp" 

 beside the road. We had only a little water for our- 

 selves ; but my pony's nose was full of dust, and I knew 

 how parched his throat must be, so I divided my sup- 

 ply with him. The poor animal was so frightened by 

 the dish, that he would only snort and back away; even 

 when I wet his nose with some of the precious fluid, he 

 would not drink. 



The success of our work upon the plains depended 

 largely upon Kublai Khan. He was only a Mongol 

 pony but he was just as great, in his own way, as was 

 the Tartar emperor whose name he bore. Whatever 

 it was I asked him to do, he gave his very best. Can 

 you wonder that I loved him? 



Within a fortnight from the time I bought him, he 



