SINO-MONGOLIAN FRONTIER 
We were up before daybreak the following morn- 
ing, and after a hasty breakfast started up the 
valley in search of wapiti. A long and strenuous 
climb brought us to the top of a high ridge between 
two peaks. Here the winter snows still lay deep 
on the shady side, and we could see the large fresh 
tracks of our quarry, and mark the spots where 
they had bedded down the day before. We climbed 
almost to the summit of one of the peaks, but 
finding no further tracks descended into a valley, 
along which we worked. Here I picked up a good 
fresh trail, and with Warrington keeping close 
behind me, followed it along the steep slopes. It 
led us across small ravines, round the shoulders 
of sharp ridges, over rocky screes, and through 
dense patches of hazel-scrub, but the trail grew ever 
fresher. At last as we topped one of the knife- 
like ridges, the graceful form of a large deer sprang 
from the scrub below us, and with long, easy 
bounds went sailing like thistledown across a wide 
ravine. Vainly we discharged our rifles again 
and again. Once the deer staggered, but recover- 
ing continued, till just as he reached and be- 
gan to climb the opposite ridge, a shot from 
Warrington’s rifle brought him to his knees. For 
a bit he struggled madly to continue, but presently 
lay quiet in some tall grass. Sending Warrington 
across to knife, if necessary, the wounded animal, 
I took up a commanding position upon the ridge, 
and prepared to intercept the deer if he attempted 
125 
