Sport and science on the Sino-Mongolian frontier . n the direction we had just come, and weresoon out of sight round a bend. A shot or twoat these also failed to find a mark. Somewhat discouraged by our poor shooting,we turned up a side ravine, and after a long,gradual ascent, came out upon some grassy up-lands. As we skirted the edge of these, the quickeye of the Mongol detected three rams grazingupon a patch of green grass at the bottom ofa valley. This was what we wanted, so duckingdown to keep out of sight, we crept away from thecrest of the ridge, and made a long detour. Onour way we put
Sport and science on the Sino-Mongolian frontier . n the direction we had just come, and weresoon out of sight round a bend. A shot or twoat these also failed to find a mark. Somewhat discouraged by our poor shooting,we turned up a side ravine, and after a long,gradual ascent, came out upon some grassy up-lands. As we skirted the edge of these, the quickeye of the Mongol detected three rams grazingupon a patch of green grass at the bottom ofa valley. This was what we wanted, so duckingdown to keep out of sight, we crept away from thecrest of the ridge, and made a long detour. Onour way we put up a herd of six or eight ewes,which scampered off, stopping every now andthen to gaze back at us. At last we reached aclump of rocks, which I had marked as beingdirectly above the grazing rams. Cautiouslypeeping over, I was disappointed to find tiie latterhad gone, but, on looking up, I saw all threegrazing on the opposite slope, about four hundredyards away, as I estimated. I beckoned toWarrington to creep up beside me : we both 114 PLATE opposite p. 114.] SINO-MONGOLIAN FRONTIER took careful aim and fired. To our chagrin thebullets again fell far short of the sheep, which atonce made off with long bounds. Again andagain we fired, but missed hopelessly every crossed a low ridge into a second ravine,presently appearing again, slowly climbing adistant slope. Three other rams emerged fromthe same ravine, and broke westward for thehighest ground. This was indeed disappointing. So clear wasthe atmosphere that we could see every detailof those rams as they had stood there on thehillside, in ^ite of the fact that they must havebeen from six to eight hundred yards , not having seen an argali at close quarters,w^e did not realize their immense size, and so judgedthem to be much nearer than they were. We sawno more sheep that day, though we both had ashot at a large wolf. On our way back down the crest of a long ridgewe suddenly came upon two roe-deer, b
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectscientificexpedition
