CHAPTER X III
HARD AT WORK
It was now the 15 th of August, and the nights were
becoming much colder, the minimum thermometer
registering, as a rule, about 10 degrees of frost; in
the hottest hour of the day the temperature did not
rise above 40° or 50° F. Of late we had been slowly
but steadily descending, and the plains were now only
some 16,000 feet above sea-level.
Antelope were becoming scarce, but fortune favoured
us and we were still able to obtain a regular supply ;
flour, however, was diminishing at a far too rapid
rate, and in order to reduce the consumption of this
precious article, our diet was practically restricted to
meat. Hares and sand-grouse helped to keep the larder
full, but the Mussulmans, as long as they could get
any antelope-flesh, would never touch the former.
Hargreaves and I usually breakfasted at 6.30 a.m.,
an hour that at the best of times is not marked by
excessive merriment; whilst the monotonous fare of
antelope, roast, fried or minced, caused our thoughts
often to turn towards eggs and bacon and fish.
One day we thought antelope tongue boiled would
afford a welcome change, and collected four for our
breakfast. They were cleaned and placed on a board
outside the cook’s tent, ready for cooking. Old
Tunduk had, however, spied these delicacies, and, sidling
up to the tent with a smile on his face, sat down
100
and made himself agreeable. The moment the cook’s
back was turned, Tunduk ate all four, raw though they
were; nor could he be made to understand what a
crime he had committed in thus devouring our breakfast,
but persisted in treating the matter in a playful spirit,
and the more he was reproved the more he laughed.
Tunduk’s smile was a wonderful sight, for having
no front teeth he disclosed a gaping void on parting
his lips. We took the trouble to question him once
as to how he had come to lose them, but he was
very reticent on the subject; from the other men,
however, we learnt that some years ago Tunduk had
visited the shrine of his god at Rudok, and when
praying before the image was suddenly seized with
religious fervour; being very poor and having nothing
to give as an offering, he knocked out his front teeth
and laid them as a propitiatory gift on the a lta r!
Our route now ran west for one march and then
turned south again; the weather improved, work progressed
steadily, and animal life again became more
evident, as we encountered yaks, kiang, antelope, hares,
ram chikor and, what surprised us very much, a pair
of hoopoes—it was certainly astonishing to find this
beautiful bird living at these high altitudes and in so
cold a climate.
Hargreaves promptly stalked the yaks. As they
fed into one ravine, he made his way up the next, and
got on terms with them at short range at the junction
of the two nullahs. The leader was brought down
with a shot from the ‘303 with a Rigby flat-nosed split
bullet. The choicest parts of the flesh were brought
to the camp, and during the next fortnight many
attempts were made to eat it, but without success
it looked like indiarubber and tasted like leather.
Nearly 700 miles had been covered since leaving