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212 ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
close to us and followed us for some distance, as if they
wanted to show their sympathy for our tired horses.
Round and round they would gallop in a half circle, in-
clining at an angle of 45° to the ground, then all at once
would wheel sharply about and pull up suddenly, facing
us in a line. Their manoeuvres could not have been
more regular and decisive had they been ridden by in-
visible Cossacks.
My men were now dying to get out of this inhospitable
region, and kept counting the days and the miles we still
had to go to reach the head-quarters camp ; nor were
they at all pleased when, on the 22nd September, I pro-
posed, because of Aldat’s condition, to take an extra day’s
rest on the shore of a moderate-sized salt lake. But next
morning after the animals were all loaded, and Aldat had
been placed on his camel, with a roUed-up fur under his
head and his feet wrapped in felts, just as I gave the order
to march, the poor fellow breathed his last. Thus ended
the strange life of this Afghan yak-hunter.
The Mussulmans gathered silently and solemnly around
the dead man’s bed, now his bier. At length Turdu Bai
broke the silence by asking me what we were to do with
the dead man. One or two of the others proposed burying
him at once ; but I could not have the poor fellow disposed
of with such indecent haste, and therefore commanded
" March."
Our caravan was now converted into a funeral procession
through the dreary valleys of Tibet. A feehng of depression
and solemnity pervaded the caravan ; nobody spoke, and
kulans and yaks were alike unmolested that day. The
black crows followed our march at a distance. Upon
reaching the west end of the lake we halted for the day,
and while the other men attended to their ordinary duties,
MoUah Shah and Niaz dug a grave for Aldat. Mollah
Shah had a strange and wild appearance, and scarcely
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