126 ACROSS MONGOLIAN PLAINS 



Then I leaped into the saddle and Kublai Khan rushed 

 after the diminutive brown fawn. It was a good half 

 mile before we had the little chap under the pony's 

 nose but the race was by no means ended. Mewing 

 with fright, it swerved sharply to the left and ere we 

 could swing about, it had gained a hundred yards. 

 Again and again we were almost on it, but every time 

 it dodged and got away. After half an hour my pony 

 was gasping for breath, and I changed to Yvette's 

 chestnut stallion. The Mongol joined me and we had 

 another run, but we might have been pursuing a streak 

 of shifting sunlight. Finally we had to give it up and 

 watch the tiny thing bob away toward its mother, who 

 was circling about in the distance. 



There were half a dozen other fawns upon the plain, 

 but they all treated us alike and my wife's hat was 

 empty when we returned to camp. These antelope 

 probably had been born not more than two or three 

 days before we found them. Later, after a chase of 

 more than a mile, we caught one which was only a few 

 hours old. Had it not injured itself when dodging be- 

 tween my pony's legs we could never have secured it 

 at all. 



Thus, nature, in the great scheme of life, has pro- 

 vided for her antelope children by blessing them with 

 undreamed-of speed and only during the first days of 

 babyhood could a wolf catch them on the open plain. 

 When they are from two to three weeks old they run 

 with the females in herds of six or eight, and you cannot 

 imagine what a pretty sight it is to see the little fellows 



