SPORT AND SCIENCE ON THE 
out in Hankow, and that the general unrest and 
excitement was increasing. Being loth to risk 
my outfit, and knowing that if the North joined 
in the rebellion against the Manchu power, it 
would be impossible to travel with any safety, I 
decided further to postpone our intended journey 
into Mongolia, spending the time instead in a short 
camping trip down the river. 
Thus it was that on October 12 we found our- 
selves comfortably settled under canvas upon the 
bank of the Fén River, about five miles south of 
T’ai-yiian Fu. 
Round us the farmers were busy harvesting 
rich crops of beans and sorghum. The weather 
was superb, with just sufficient nip in it to make 
a stove at night pleasant, and to send the blood 
coursing through one’s veins as one tramped along 
in the early mornings, watching the sky for the 
long lines of migrating geese, or beating the scrub 
and underbrush for hares and quails. 
All night long we had heard the honking of wild 
geese as they passed southward, fleeing from the 
northern cold, whieh was steadily advancing to 
lay its grip upon the land, and now as the grey 
dawn spread its light over field and flood, 
we crept out towards one of the numerous dykes 
which intersect these flatlands, and crouched 
behind it in hopes that the oncoming geese, flying 
low as is their wont when there is frost in the air, 
would afford us a few shots. 
‘74 
