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A KILLING JOURNEY. 327
us one of the maddest storms I ever remember, drowning
all other sounds except an occasional shout from one or
other of the men, when any of our lighter belongings was
caught up by the wind.
According to my calculation, the valley in which we
were now encamped was the westward continuation of
that in which, the autumn before, we had buried poor
Aldat. It was about twenty miles away that the black
yak’s tail was fluttering above his lonely grave.
Immediately before us rose another lofty range, up to
the summit of which, 17,100 feet high, we slowly and pain-
fully scrambled. Looking south, we had an uninterrupted
vista across the highlands for fully four days’ journey,
but from the north, whence we had come, the prospect
consisted of nothing but a chaos of mountain ranges,
exhibiting every shade of colour. Here and there we
caught a glimpse of perpetual snow, the whole arched-
over by the turquoise blue dome of the sky.
On the 4th and 5th July we rested beside a little spring,
where the Cossacks shot two yaks and twelve partridges.
We now endeavoured to live as far as possible upon meat,
so as to spare as much rice as we could for the animals. At
twilight on the second day the whole of our sheep were mis-
sing. Everybody jumped to the conclusion that they had
been attacked by wolves, for these creatures were very plenti-
ful in that region ; we used to hear their blood-curdling
howls every night. The discovery of our loss threw the
camp into a state of great excitement ; at once a hue and
cry was raised, but the searchers all returned about nine
o’clock, tired and dispirited, having found nothing. They
waited until midnight for the moon to rise, and then tried
again, and this time found the wanderers lying snug and
comfortable in a deep ravine. After this Vanka was
cashiered, and his place as commander-in-chief of the
sheep corps was given to Kalpet.
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