WE CAMP BY TWO FRESH-WATER POOLS.
Whilst enjoying our midday halt a couple of antelopes and sand-grouse came to drink, and fell victims to our guns for their greediness. We all revelled in the abundance of such good things, and would have much liked to lengthen our stay; but on inspecting our supplies we found the men had only fifteen days' rations left. We tried hard to persuade them to subsist on half rations, as we ourselves had been doing, and although at the time they finally expressed their willingness to do so, and saw the expediency of the plan, still they made their promise when filled with immense meals of hallaled antelope and heavy chupatties, and we doubted their power of abstaining. If they could have managed to show more self-control over their food, we reckoned in thirty more days on half rations we should cover another three hundred miles, and we considered the fact of travelling that distance further on, without meeting anybody, was an absolute impossibility; besides, the general appearance of the country was improving, and on that very evening we actually encamped on the grassy banks of a small running stream. It was an enticement to us to follow up this rivulet, but the extreme southern course it took outweighed our wishes. The men already began to grumble that they could not work on half rations, this too when they had vast supplies of meat from the antelope. The only advice we could give them, was to eat up their food as fast as they could, and then, when it was all gone, they would have to exist on still less than they were now doing, if they wanted to live at all. Whatever argument we brought forward had no weight with such men, who would only think of appeasing their wants for the time being. Although we spoke to them harshly, still it was our fixed intention to strive our utmost to shoot game for the men, so that they might save a little of their rations, and sometimes at our midday halt we would sally forth with rifles to try and bag something before the afternoon's march. Even then it was only in a grumbling frame of mind that a man would accompany us to hallal the animal.
The muleteers, too, began on some occasions to quarrel amongst themselves, and to threaten all kinds of punishments to one another; but the mere threatening, and actual carrying out, are very different things. Still, there was a kind of feeling in the air that unless we got assistance some calamity would befall us. Whilst on the march a big black mule died, and as the pony with Sulloo had not come in, this reduced us to only twelve animals, a very small number indeed for the men to load and look after, and a very small cause for them to complain of overwork.
At midday halt the spirits of the muleteers became more discontented than ever, for no water could be found for a long time, nor would any of them bestir themselves in the matter; so unreasonable had they become that we doubted our ever being able to forget and forgive their failings when we came to the end of our journey. Towards evening we saw a fresh-water lake, and camped a mile or so east of it, choosing a spot by some good grazing. As the animals had had no water that day, we drove them down to the lake, but the banks all round were treacherous to such a degree that one mule only just escaped drowning, so difficult was it to drag him out of the heavy mud; and when we eventually did, he had been so long in the water and was so benumbed, for the sun had set and a bitter blast was blowing, that when we got him back to camp he was too far gone to think of eating. He was a fine, powerful mule, and his loss would have been severely felt by us. All our warm putties, etc., were given up on this occasion, and the frozen mule was bandaged up almost from head to foot. The following morning great was our relief at finding he was none the worse whatever for his lengthened drink at the lake.
CHAPTER XI.
SHOOTING AN ANTELOPE—SNOW—A MYSTERIOUS TRACK—THE BED OF AN ANCIENT LAKE—EMOTION OF MAHOMED RAHIM—VARIABLE WEATHER—MORE ANTELOPES SHOT—THEODOLITE BROKEN—EXTRAORDINARILY SUDDEN WIND—HUNGER v. CEREMONY—NEW FINDS.
Before starting forth again we upbraided the head muleteer, Ghulam Russul, for his chicken-heartedness and bad example to the rest of the men. He denied a grumbling spirit, and said he was brave and ready to undergo any hardship, and follow us anywhere, but as to the other men, he said they were a discontented lot. Knowing as we did how he influenced them, his statement bore no weight with us. We made a double march over undulating grassy country, intersected by some broad gravel nullahs, running almost at right angles to our course. South of us lay a range of hills running east and west, making it appear as though a river were running along at their base, and for this reason we intended to steer gradually for them.
At night we found a well-sheltered nook, with water close at hand, and such splendid grass that we were induced to remain half the next day and feed up; besides, there had been no signs at all of Tokhta and Sulloo, and we considered this the last hope of ever seeing them again. Henceforth we would make no more provision for their coming, in the shape of leaving food and grain behind. It was fortunate we had fixed on a half day's halt, for at daybreak there was a strong wind blowing from the north with driving sleet. The grass at this camp, No. 56, had far more nourishment in it than any other grass we had come across up to the present, and Ghulam Russul remarked that if we saw more grass like it we were sure to come across nomads, so all were, for the time being, in a more hopeful frame of mind. The melting snow had made the marching somewhat heavy, and there was no lack of water.
Soon after starting, Malcolm, who had gone on ahead, came hurrying back to me, with the request that I would come with him and shoot an antelope, for he had seen a great number of them. Shortly afterwards we saw a large herd grazing or playing about as antelopes do, but one of them, without the slightest provocation, came trotting towards us; perhaps he was wondering whatever could have brought such queer-looking creatures there as we were. We sat down to make ourselves still more mysterious and to receive him, when suddenly his instinct seemed to tell him that there was just a suspicion of danger attached to us, for he started off at a gallop, crossing our front at about fifty yards distance. We both fired simultaneously at so inviting a mark, and both hit. It was a sight worth seeing, an antelope retreating at top speed in a second bowled over quite dead, so much so that when Mahomed Rahim, who was at hand, rushed up to hallal him, no blood would flow from the operation, and the men declared it was not fit for them to eat. In one way it was satisfactory to hear them say this, for we were convinced that up to date they had not been suffering from hunger. If they had, no hesitation, through religious scruples, would have arisen about eating the antelope's flesh.
We halted by a lake whose water tasted very nearly fresh, but the banks were so treacherous that it was a hazardous undertaking to get close to it, and after our previous experience we preferred digging instead. This very likely accounted for the absence of game in the neighbourhood, that they could not get to the water; but it is difficult to account for the absence of birds on the lake itself, for there was not even a Brahmini duck. A bright night, and we made preparations for a very early start the next morning, but the ill luck that sometimes accompanied us had brought another storm, so that the ground bore a very white appearance, and all idea of marching, for the time being, had to be abandoned. By noon, although the ground was still heavy, we ventured forth again, and hit off another large lake containing water very nearly fresh.