slightly ahead, and did not at first miss the rider, but
when he came back he found him on the ground, calling
out, “ I’m dead ! I ’m dead ! ”
He was brought back alive, notwithstanding, and
though sufficiently bruised in tender parts to put him
in great pain, he was not seriously hurt, and, on looking
out of my queer sleeping-place, I could see Sevier
doctoring him up and painting him with iodine by the
light of the fire. It was a weird, curious sight. There
we lay under a lowering midnight sky, the darkness
relieved by the glare of a saxaul fire. The camels
were kneeling around asleep, and so were the outstretched
drivers, whilst Sevier was busy with his
groaning patient in the application of bandages.
When at length the doctoring was over, it was plain
that the wounded man could neither walk nor ride on
horseback, and the only thing left was that he should
occupy one of the cradles, to which end I volunteered
to give up mine, and to ride ■ Diotrephes for the remainder
of the night. I had to speak sharply to the
men to rouse them from their slumbers, especially to
Murad, whom I perceived to be not in the least
hurried, and to take things a great deal more coolly
than suited my anxiety to get forward. Matters, moreover,
had not been improved by my having heard,
through Rosy, that the men had talked of throwing
overboard, in the night, the melons and clover in order
to lighten the ship. I saw, therefore, that I must be
firm, and I spoke in tones that needed no interpreter
to show that I meant to be obeyed, and at length we
got under way.
Once started, Nazar and Murad became hilarious, and
commenced singing, now in duet, now in solo, but never
in harmony, and always in dubious melody. In one of
his strains Murad’s voice, whether intentionally or
otherwise, approached perilously near to the braying
o f a donkey, but he seemed to enjoy it, and it helped
to keep me awake. For a time I got on pretty well,
sometimes walking and sometimes riding, but the wind
was cold ; and as we passed ruin after ruin the “ Queen
o f night rose not in clouded majesty, nor o’er the
dark her silver mantle threw.” Not even an owl
swooped by, and the gloom was decidedly uninspiring.
In plain English, I began to get fearfully sleepy and
tired, and I had so far the satisfaction of seeing that it
was no singular weakness on my part, inasmuch as the
local guide, who went on ahead, now and then galloped
a little further than usual, and then got off his horse
and lay on the ground for a few minutes’ sleep till the
caravan came up. I did not attempt this, but vainly
tried in all sorts of ways to put myself in a posture for
horseback sleep. Then I called in the aid of reason,
and argued how useful it might be in my experience to
have spent one night thus out in the open 7 what
sympathy it would give me in future for policemen,
night-watchmen, nurses, and such persons. Other
thoughts too, better than of reason’s light, came to my
aid about self-denial, and “ enduring hardness,” with
sundry other appropriate reflections.
So things went on till Aurora opened the gates of
morning, and dawn found us at the four wells of
Karategin, or Kara-Kum, in the dry bed of the Oxus.
Here we were to draw water for the first time, and to
prepare breakfast at a camp fire ; so, after directing
Rosy to cook a pheasant, I was minded to turn into
the cradle for a nap ; but sunrise brought vigour to my
fatigued limbs, and I could not sleep amid such novel
surroundings. My thoughts were speedily taken back