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286 ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
was safe and waiting for us at Abdal. Late tliat evening
I ate my supper beside that peaceful lake amidst tlie worst
swarm of gnats I have ever fallen in with ; but what did
I care about gnats now that all my people were safe, and
my recent labours were crowned with success ? At length
we heard the voices of the fishermen and the splashing
of paddles, and five canoes shot up, come to take us up
the Tarim to Abdal. This trip proved to be one of those
fascinating, never-to-be-forgotten moonhght journeys on
the stin, bright river, amid Venetian-like surroundings,
such as I had already experienced once or twice before.
Upon reaching Abdal we found there Faisullah and his
two companions safe and sound ; but they considered
it was a perilous commission I had given them when we
separated at the ruins of Lou-Ian. They had crossed the
desert without difficulty, but upon reaching the newly-
formed lakes they completely lost their heads. Faisuhah
—as was indeed natural—failed to recognise the country
again, although he had been there the year before. He
was persuaded, too, that my compass was an arrant deceiver,
and that the best place for it was at the bottom of one of
my boxes. Anyhow, they had finally turned their backs
upon the treacherous lakes, and after making a wide sweep
round into the desert had landed, exhausted and half-
famished, in the neighbourhood of the Tarim. To make
matters worse, all three horses died at once, and for two
weeks the men lived entirely upon horse-flesh.
Now, however, all their, and all our, toil and hardship
were alike forgotten ; and after yet two other days’ rest
we set off for Charkhlik, saying good-bye finally to the
Tarim and its lakes. Whenever I think of those places,
so far away in the heart of the desert, there always comes
over me a feeling of sadness, coupled with the desire to go
and see them again.
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