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TIBETAN NOMADS. 357
play our respective parts admirably, tliough at first
Shagdur rebelled against ordering me to go and gather
argol (yak-dung) ; but after a day or two everything went
like clockwork.
After I had done my duty to the satisfaction of my chief,
I had a good sound sleep, and slept right on till eight o’clock.
When I awoke, the other two were out bringing in the
animals. After letting them graze for another hour quite
close to the tent, we drove two stout stakes into the ground,
and tethered them to the rope that was stretched from stake
to stake. We always, both then and afterwards, picketed
our animals in this wa}^ on the lee side of the tent, close to
its entrance, which we left open. As soon as it was dark,
we let the fire die down and carried inside our boxes, saddles,
and cooking apparatus. Yolbars was chained on the farther
side of the horses, so that it was from him we might expect
to have the first warning of the approach of danger ; whilst
shaggy Malenki was tied up a little way from the opposite
end of the tent. We divided the night into three watches
—9 to 12, 12 to 3, and 3 to 6, and, as a rule, I took the first
and the Lama the last watch.
Both Shagdur and the Lama appeared to me unusually
out of spirits, and when I asked what was the matter, they
told me that whilst I was asleep three horsemen had ap-
proached our camp from the south, and after taking council
together on the top of a hill had ridden off, and never showed
themselves again. This struck me as being very suspicious ;
it could only mean that they were waiting for night to
make some sort of attempt against us. There could no
longer be any doubt that we were surrounded by spies and
mounted patrols, though whether they were watching us
of their own initiative or by command of the authorities we
did not of course know.
Some time before nine both my companions were fast
asleep and snoring, for they were of course tired after the
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