ly that the difficulties
which the Chinese had encountered were largely the result of
incompetent chauffeurs.

We had kept a sharp lookout for antelope, but saw nothing except a
fox which looked so huge in the clear air that all of us were
certain it was a wolf. There are always antelope on the Panj-kiang
plain, however, and we loaded the magazines of our rifles as soon as
we left the telegraph station. I was having a bit of sport with an
immense flock of golden plover (_Pluvialis dominicus fulvus_) when
the people in the cars signaled me to return, for a fine antelope
buck was standing only a few hundred yards from the road. The ground
was as smooth and hard as an asphalt pavement and we skimmed along
at forty miles an hour. When the animal had definitely made up its
mind to cross in front of us, Charles gave the accelerator a real
push and the car jumped to a speed of forty-eight miles. The
antelope was doing his level best to "cross our bows" but he was too
far away, and for a few moments it seemed that we would surely crash
into him if he held his course. It was a great race. Yvette had a
death grip on my coat, for I was sitting half over the edge of the
car ready to jump when Charles threw on the brakes. With any one but
Coltman at the wheel I would have been too nervous to enjoy the
ride, but we all had confidence in his superb driving.

The buck crossed the road not forty yards in front of us, just at
the summit of a tiny hill. Charles and I both fired once, and the
antelope turned half over in a whirl of dust. It disappeared behind
the hill crest and we expected to find it dead on the other side,
but the slope was empty and even with our glasses we could not
discover a sign of life on the plain, which stretched away to the
horizon apparently as level as a floor. It had been swallowed
utterly as though by the magic pocket of a conjurer.

Mac had not participated in the fun, for it had been a one-man race.
Fifteen minutes later, however, we had a "free for all" which gave
him his initiation.

An extract from Yvette's "Journal" gives her impression of the
chase:

"Some one pointed out the distant, moving specks on the horizon and
in a moment our car had left the road and started over the plains.
Nearer and nearer we came, and faster and faster ran the antelope
stringing out in a long, yellow line before us. The speedometer was
moving up and up, thirty miles, thirty-five miles. Roy was sitting
on the edge of