alling
snow. He would, nevertheless, have fared badly if his mother had not
collected a band of his father's troops and come to his assistance
together with Tului, the Kerait chief, who remembered the favors he
had received from Temudjin's father. Mailla says that returning home
with a few followers, he was attacked by a band of robbers. He was
accompanied by a famous crossbowman, named Soo, to whom he had given
the name of Merghen. While the robbers were within earshot, Merghen
shouted: "There are two wild ducks, a male and a female; which shall I
bring down?"

"The male," said Temudjin.

He had scarcely said so when down it came. This was too much for the
robbers, who dared not measure themselves against such marksmanship.

The Merkits had recently made a raid upon his territory, and carried
off his favorite wife, Burte Judjin. It was after her return from her
captivity that she gave birth to her elder son, Juji, about whose
legitimacy there seems to have been some doubt in his father's mind.
It was to revenge this that he now (1197) marched against them, and
defeated them near the river Mundsheh (a river "Mandzin" is still to
be found in the canton Karas Muren). He abandoned all the booty to
Wang Khan. The latter, through the influence of Temudjin, once more
regained his throne, and the following year (1198) he headed an
expedition on his own account against the Merkits, and beat them at a
place named Buker Gehesh, but he did not reciprocate the generosity of
his ally.

In 1199 the two friends made a joint expedition against the Naimans.
This tribe was now divided between two brothers who had quarrelled
about their father's concubine. One of them, named Buyuruk, had
retired with a body of the people to the Kiziltash mountains. The
other, called Baibuka--but generally referred to by his Chinese title
of Taiwang, or Tayang--remained in his own proper country. It was the
latter who was now attacked by the two allies, and forced to escape to
the country of Kem Kemdjut--_i.e._, toward the sources of the
Yenissei. Chamuka, the chief of the Jadjerats, well named Satchan, or
"the Crafty," still retained his hatred for Temudjin. He now whispered
in the ear of Wang Khan that his ally was only a fair-weather friend.
Like the wild goose, he flew away in winter, while he himself, like
the snowbird, was constant under all circumstances. These and other
suggestions aroused the jealousy of Wang Khan, who suddenly withdrew
his