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24 ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
and after a while returned leading a horse. Having yoked
it to the skiff he jumped into the saddle, and guiding the
horse into a side-arm of the river, began to tow me back
to camp. But the water grew deeper and deeper ; soon
it reached up to his waist. Then all at once the horse lost
his footing, and away he went, carried down by the current.
Sirkin, flinging himself off into the water, tried to swim to
the boat, but after a few strokes disappeared. I turned
pale, and felt an icy shiver run down my back. " Is he
going to drown just when everything is so promising ?
Am I to lose my fine Cossack before the journey has really
begun ? Thank God, no !
" Two or three seconds later
up came Sirkin and began to struggle towards the skiff. I
reached out an oar towards him ; he seized it and was saved.
When we at length reached camp we found it a scene of
the liveliest bustle. There was the ferry-boat all ready.
She was being punted across to the right bank, where we
were going to rig up a boat-building yard. But to get the
heavy monster up the steep bank was easier said than done.
However, after laying down a sort of wooden track, we
managed, with the help of a hundred men or so, to draw
her up. Meanwhile, the men sang as they hauled, and
Hakim Bek, the chieftain, stationed himself in the middle
of the ferry-boat ; not that he lightened the load, but that
he might by his distinguished presence facilitate matters,
and keep order, which he did with all the aplomh of a circus
director, vigorously flourishing the long rod he held in his
hand, and whacking and shouting with the greatest gusto.
Without loss of time men were soon swarming all over
the ferry-boat, hard at work re-shaping and re-fitting her
in accordance with my instructions. She would have to
serve me for a dwelling, and I wanted to have her both
comfortable and serviceable. Carpenters hammered away
all day, and sang merrily as they drove the rasping saw-
blades through the planks. We rigged up a small tem-
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