250 ACROSS MONGOLIAN PLAINS 



shell and were rolling about like a pack of dogs after a 

 bone. One of them struck my leg just as I fired the 

 second time and the bullet went into the air; I delivered 

 a broadside of my choicest Chinese oaths and the man 

 drew off. I sent three shots after the fleeing sow, but 

 she disappeared unhurt. 



One shell remained in my rifle, and I saw the other 

 pig running like a scared rabbit in the very bottom of 

 the canon. It was so far away that I could barely see 

 the animal through my sights, but when I fired it turned 

 a complete somersault and lay still; the bullet had caught 

 it squarely in the head. 



Meanwhile, Smith was having a lively time with the 

 old sow. He had swung around a corner of rock just in 

 time to meet the pig coming at full speed from the other 

 side not six yards away. He tried to check himself, 

 slipped, and sat down suddenly but managed to fire 

 once, breaking the animal's left foreleg. It disappeared 

 into the brush with Smith after it. 



He began an intermittent bombardment which lasted 

 half an hour. Bang^ hang^ hang — then silence. Bang, 

 hang, hang — silence again. I wondered what it all 

 meant and finally ran down the bottom of the valley 

 until I saw Smith opposite to me just under the rim of 

 the ravine. He was tearing madly through the brush 

 not far behind the sow. As the animal appeared for an 

 instant on the summit of a rise he dropped on one knee 

 and fired twice. Then I saw him race over the hill, leap- 

 ing the bushes like a roebuck. Once he rolled ten feet 

 into a mass of thorn scrub, but he was up again in an 



