Before starting forth again we upbraided the head muleteer, Ghulam Russul, for his chicken-heartedness and bad example to the rest of the men. He denied a grumbling spirit, and said he was brave and ready to undergo any hardship, and follow us anywhere, but as to the other men, he said they were a discontented lot. Knowing as we did how he influenced them, his statement bore no weight with us. We made a double march over undulating grassy country, intersected by some broad gravel nullahs, running almost at right angles to our course. South of us lay a range of hills running east and west, making it appear as though a river were running along at their base, and for this reason we intended to steer gradually for them.
At night we found a well-sheltered nook, with water close at hand, and such splendid grass that we were induced to remain half the next day and feed up; besides, there had been no signs at all of Tokhta and Sulloo, and we considered this the last hope of ever seeing them again. Henceforth we would make no more provision for their coming, in the shape of leaving food and grain behind. It was fortunate we had fixed on a half day\'s halt, for at 128 daybreak there was a strong wind blowing from the north with driving sleet. The grass at this camp, No. 56, had far more nourishment in it than any other grass we had come across up to the present, and Ghulam Russul remarked that if we saw more grass like it we were sure to come across nomads, so all were, for the time being, in a more hopeful frame of mind. The melting snow had made the marching somewhat heavy, and there was no lack of water.
Soon after starting, Malcolm, who had gone on ahead, came hurrying back to me, with the request that I would come with him and shoot an antelope, for he had seen a great number of them. Shortly afterwards we saw a large herd grazing or playing about as antelopes do, but one of them, without the slightest provocation, came trotting towards us; perhaps he was wondering whatever could have brought such queer-looking creatures there as we were. We sat down to make ourselves still more mysterious and to receive him, when suddenly his instinct seemed to tell him that there was just a suspicion of danger attached to us, for he started off at a gallop, crossing our front at about fifty yards distance. We both fired simultaneously at so inviting a mark, and both hit. It was a sight worth seeing, an antelope retreating at top speed in a second bowled over quite dead, so much so that when Mahomed Rahim, who was at hand, rushed up to hallal him, no blood would flow from the operation, and the men declared it was not fit for them to eat. In one way it was satisfactory to hear them say this, for we were convinced that up to date they had not been suffering from hunger. If they had, no hesitation, through religious scruples, would have arisen about eating the antelope\'s flesh.
We halted by a lake whose water tasted very nearly fresh, but the banks were so treacherous that it was a hazardous undertaking to get close to it, and after our previous experience we preferred digging instead. This very likely 129 accounted for the absence of game in the neighbourhood, that they could not get to the water; but it is difficult to account for the absence of birds on the lake itself, for there was not even a Brahmini duck. A bright night, and we made preparations for a very early start the next morning, but the ill luck that sometimes accompanied us had brought another storm, so that the ground bore a very white appearance, and all idea of marching, for the time being, had to be abandoned. By noon, although the ground was still heavy, we ventured forth again, and hit off another large lake containing water very nearly fresh.
Throughout the day storms continued to rage around us amidst the adjacent hills, but, fortunately, none fell actually over us; we could not help reflecting how all this snow must have entirely baffled Sulloo and Tokhta in their tracking us, that is, if they had attempted to do so. Everywhere the country was beautifully grassy, and occasionally we picked a new species of flower. Another large lake was situated to the north of us, and during our march down the valley the hills that lay both north and south were gradually closing in. As we proceeded, the going became more difficult. In addition to another snowstorm which had fallen during the night, the valley became split up by irregular nullahs and hills running in every direction, with no defined features.
We continued making our double marches, and as the loads were becoming lighter we hoped to cover fifteen miles a day. One great continuous anxiety was the task of finding enough game to shoot, that we might all live. At one time it would be plentiful enough, at others for days we could find nothing. On some nights we registered over twenty degrees of frost, and still remained over 16,000 feet above the sea level, and at this great height we actually saw a brown butterfly.
On the 20th of July we began to notice the days were 130 growing shorter, as the sun would rise just a few minutes before 5 o\'clock; but the whole country appeared to be changing for the better, which in no small degree alleviated our fears of being able to get across this high plateau before the cold weather should set in. Generally speaking, everywhere there was more grass growing, and, instead of the coarse tufts we had been accustomed to see, their place was taken by short crisp grass, the kind of growth that is so much sought after by the nomads. We were, too, making a very gradual descent, and felt convinced that, with such natural signs, we must before very long hit off streams which would lead us to some sort of civilization.
At our midday halt the men\'s spirits were more cheerful. We had stopped in a fine broad nullah, running nearly due east, with pleasant-looking grassy hills sloping down on either side, and, with a cloudless sky and no wind, we were glad to sit in our shirt-sleeves, whilst our twelve veteran mules, with their saddles off, rolled in the sand before enjoying the rich grass and water. We began to pick fresh additions to our flower collection, the specimens being chiefly of a mauve or white colour, and up to the present time we had only found one yellow flower. At 7.30 p.m., in Camp 61, at a height of over 16,000 feet, the temperature was forty degrees Fahrenheit, and during the night there were nineteen degrees of frost. Fine grass and fine weather still favoured us, while the presence of a number of sand-grouse indicated that water was at no great distance off.
Just after leaving Camp 62, we were all struck with wonderment at finding a track running almost at right angles to our own route. It was so well defined, and bore such unmistakable signs of a considerable amount of traffic having gone along it, that we concluded it could be no other than a high road from Turkistan to the mysterious Lhassa, yet the track was not more than a foot broad. Our surmises, too, were considerably strengthened when one of the men 131 picked up the entire leg bone of some baggage animal, probably a mule, for still adhering to the leg was a shoe. This was a sure proof that the road had been made use of by some merchant or explorer, and that it could not have been merely a kyang or yak track, or one made use of only by nomads, for they never shoe their animals in this part of the world.
Such a startling discovery as this bore weight with the men, and nothing would have suited their spirits better than to have stuck to the track and march northwards, and they evidently thought us strange mortals for not following this course; therefore, instead of being elated with joy, they became more despondent than ever when they found we were still bent upon blundering along in our eastern route. But it was our strong belief that we should for a certainty find people in a very few days\' time, and this being the case, we did not see the force of travelling in a wrong direction, and put aside the objects for which we had set out, just to suit the passing whim of a few craven-hearted men, especially when we knew that the cause of their running short of food and consequent trouble was entirely due to their own dishonest behaviour. We did, however, send one man, Mahomed Rahim, supplied with food, with instructions to follow the road north as far as he had courage to go, thinking that when he had crossed a certain range of hills he would discover the whereabouts of people. Furthermore we explained to him the way we intended going, so that there could be no chance of his losing himself.
A mile or so further on we came to the dried-up salt bed of a very ancient lake. The salt was in every shape and form of crustation, and the whole lake for several miles across was divided up into small squares with walls one to three feet high, rugged and irregular. The going across this was troublesome and arduous, first stumbling over one wall, then crossing a few yards of crumbling, crystallised 132 salt before another had to be scrambled over. Thus it went on for mile after mile, and the length of the lake being most deceptive it seemed as though we should never, never cross it. As the sun rose higher some of the salt composite melted, and then we found ourselves first in slush, then on a bit of hard, rugged going, most liable to cause a sprain to any of the mules. It became evident that unless we were pretty smart in getting off the lake altogether, we should find ourselves bogged there for the rest of the day; thus our first idea of going straight ahead across the lake had to fall through, and we steered for the nearest shore, which was on the southern side, all the time the ground getting worse and more treacherous. When, only in the nick of time, we did stand on a sound footing again, we congratulated ourselves that for once only had we deviated a short way from our course. Although this salt bed had proved such an unforeseen obstacle in our line, still it was useful to us in another way. The salt was of an excellent quality, and we were able to replenish our store of this most necessary article, of which there was so little left that we were carefully economising it.
During the morning\'s march next day we shot an antelope and a kyang, and not wishing to delay the mules or to overload them, we left two men behind, Ghulam Russul and Shukr Ali, to cut up the meat and bring it in, whilst we continued in search of a suitable spot for a midday halt. This was a plan we frequently adopted, and there were always volunteers to stop behind, for by doing so they took good care to light a fire and feast on the tit-bits to their hearts\' content, and well fortify themselves before carrying the load of meat to their fellow muleteers.
We had halted, and were expecting the arrival of these two men, when Mahomed Rahim, who had been sent to follow up the track, rejoined us, and as he approached we could see he was weeping bitterly. On asking the man 133 what ailed him, he sobbed out that he had lost his way. He was a ludicrous sight, for he was a great, big, strong fellow, and we asked him, if he wept like this at finding us again after only being absent a day and a night, how would he weep had he not found us at all? We fed up the great baby with some unleavened bread, which he ate voraciously amidst his sobs. Some kyang came trotting up to camp with a look of wonderment at our being present there, and as we were about to move off some antelopes also came to inspect us.
The men carried quantities of cooked meat about their persons, wrapped up in their clothes, and as they tramped along they munched almost incessantly at the tough food tending to make them very thirsty, so that when we halted for the night they suffered considerably, for the water we dug out was too salt for drinking.
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