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52 ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
to the front with their rifles. But with a bound the animal
leapt up the bank and disappeared in the underwoods,
Yoldash barking himself hoarse until the animal was
out of sight. Further on we surprised a herd of wild-
boar wallowing in the mud by the river-side. When
they became aware of us, they rose to their feet, stared
at us a minute or so, and then galloped off like a whirl-
wind into the nearest thicket of reeds. A wild-duck,
which sat and coolly regarded us without moving, made
an excellent dish for supper.
As the season was getting on and we had still a long
way to go, we continued to drift even after the sun had
set. In order to keep up the spirits of my men, I brought
out the musical-box and appointed Islam to look after
it. The men listened in a spirit of devotion, and Kasim,
in the little ferry-boat, kept as near as he could. Then
the echoes of the Asian forests were awakened to the
clear but plaintive strains of Cavalleria Rusticana, to the
joyous music of Carmen, and the varied notes of Swedish
popular songs. And when at length the instrument struck
up a thrilling march, it was as though w^e were making
a triumphal entry to the crash of regimental music. It
was a still and peaceful evening, the air full of the scents
of the forest and of vapours arising from meadow and
reed-patch. The stillness of the wilderness, like that
of a holy temple, was undisturbed except for the occa-
sional quacking of a wild-duck or the stealthy move-
ments of a fox prowling amongst the kamish (reeds).
Early on the morning of the nth October the mirror-
like surface of the Yarkand-daria was veiled with a moist
haze ; the belt of forest on the opposite bank was only
discernible as a faint dark line. Kasim, who still continued
to navigate the little ferry-boat, made a sharp-cut, yet
faint, silhouette against the misty veil, which still hung
like a spider’s web outspread from bank to bank. But
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