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268 ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
white with mollusc shells. We were in the bottom of the
ancient lake. So engrossed were we with our work that
none of us gave a thought to Khodai Vardi and the camels ;
we, of course, concluded that, according to orders, they
were following closely in our footsteps. Ninety times
staff and telescope were alternately moved and we had
measured a distance of 9,950 yards, when it began to grow
dusk, and suggested it was time to think of breaking off.
We therefore stopped, but where was Khodai Vardi ?
We went to the top of one or two small hills on which
in the dim distant past tamarisks had grown, and looked
about us. The desert was as silent and deserted as the
grave, not a glimpse of the caravan to be seen. Had
the man gone astray or was he turned crazy ? I was
really very anxious about him. Finding some dry timber
near by, we built up a big pile on the top of one of the
hills and set fire to it, making a signal blaze which might
be seen from a great distance. Meanwhile, Shagdur set off
in the darkness to look for the truants.
If the man had gone astray and failed to see our fire,
he would be infallibly lost, for he had no idea even of
the existence of the marsh of Kara-koshun. To look for
any one—even to look for the ruins of a whole town—in
an unbounded desert is a more hopeless business than
looking for a needle in a bundle of hay. If the man failed
to find us then, our situation also would be critical ;
for
without water and food we should scarce be able to reach
the lake, and any oases there might be between us and it
would be able to afford us nothing but water. But what
worried me most of all was the thought of losing the fruits
of four months’ hard work through the crass stupidity of a
blockhead.
High and wildly blazed the fire against the gaping void
of the darkness. The country was as silent and as desolate
as though it were on an uninhabited planet. We listened.
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