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WATER! WATER! 253
sniffing, here, there and everywhere. We were following
closely the trail of a troop of 20 wild camels. It brought
us to the entrance of a glen, opening out between low hills
on the right. It was upon that point that all the camel-tracks
in the neighbourhood converged, and then united into one
common track, leading straight up the glen. Now it is repug-
nant to the instincts of that shy creature the wild camel ever
to enter glens or similar confined places, where it may readily
fall into an ambush ; it loves rather the open country, where
it can see a long way about it. Evidently, then, there
must be some special reason why all these wild, shy crea-
tures should have made their way into this narrow passage ;
and the only thing that could have brought them there
must be a spring. I turned, therefore, and followed the
trail up the glen, and before I had gone very far I saw Yol-
dash drinking beside a bright sheet of ice.
We were saved ! The first thing was to let our animals
have a couple of daj^s’ rest. It is true, we had no fodder
to give them beyond one small sack of corn, left over from
the supply which we bought from the Sartang Mongols. I
spent the greater part of the first evening feeding the
camels with pieces of ice out of my own hand ; for, though
the water that trickled out of the spring was salt, the ice
it engendered was fresh.
The animals stood in a ring, patiently waiting their turns,
their eyes glistening like those of a child when it sees a
lump of sugar-candy, and a very pleasant thing it was to
hear them crunching the pieces of ice between their strong
teeth, just as a child crunches candy.
Upon leaving this spring, we carried with us sufficient
ice to last for several days. As it turned out, however,
there was no need to have done so, for after only a few hours
we passed a second spring, the ground round which was
greatly trampled by camels and antelopes. Whilst Shagdur
dropped behind in the hope of shooting a wild camel, I pro-
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