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272 ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
His success in finding us in the darkness and in the
midst of the sand-storm was in every way a remarkable
feat. Nobody, except a Buriat, who had spent his whole
life in the open air, and was at the same time a Cossack,
could have done anything like it. Shagdur was the best
servant I have ever had in my life, and after the proofs
of fidelity, intelligence, and ability which he so frequently
exhibited, I did not hesitate to trust him fully, even on
occasions of the utmost importance, as you will see
subsequently.
The first thing Shagdur did after he had made his report
was to give Khodai Vardi a good "jacketing," and this
he did of his own accord. Evidently he considered I had
been too lenient for not doing it myself.
On the 1 2th March we were able to continue our survey
work, and by the evening of the 13th my levelling had
proved the correctness of my theory ; for we had crossed
a depression, the basin of the former Lop-nor, and the
milliards of white mollusc shells showed unmistakably
that it was a former lake-basin we had crossed. Exactly
at 7 o’clock that evening we heard roaring and hissing
sounds approaching from the north-east, and a couple of
minutes later a black tempest was careering in all
its unmitigated fury across the flat, level expanse. We
hurriedly made the necessary preparations, being care-
ful not only to mark the last station of our levelling line,
but also to tie down the yurt, and put out the fires,
and after the camels had been placed with their heads
to leeward, we were all ready to face the worst that
might happen. The night was pitch-dark, not a star being
visible ; nobody was inclined for conversation ; the storm
howled and whined unchallenged. I was lying writing
by the light of a flickering candle, when at nine o’clock
Shagdur crept in to take the reading of the boiling-point
thermometers, and to help me with the perpetually recurring
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