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28o ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
Why had he not the sense to send us reUef ? He knew
that on the loth March we had started, provisioned for only
eight da^^s, and this was now the twelfth day since we
parted. And why did we hear nothing of Tokta Akhim ?
When we separated at Anambaruin-gol I had distinctly
ordered him to meet us here betimes. Had some mis-
fortune happened to him, and prevented him from ever
reaching Charkhlik ? Or had he been confused by those
wandering lakes which change their position and appearance
every year ? When should we get an answer to all these
questions, and when would this intricate tangle be un-
ravelled ? The night, stretching dark and voiceless all
around us, had no answer to give ; nor were the thin
columns of smoke, that curled lazily upwards from the
dying embers, able to give us any answer either.
Next day we reached the shore of another lake where
the reeds were growing thick. Here another couple of
wild-duck fell to Shagdur’s gun. I was riding my old
desert camel so as to be able to see as far as possible. Next
we were stopped by a narrow stream, and the rest of the
day was spent in wandering fruitlessly backwards and
forwards in search of a way out of the watery labyrinth
which hemmed us in on all sides. Why did we not simply
march straight on across the shallow canals and marshes ?
Simply because it was impossible. Their bottoms were so
many oozy morasses, into which we should have sunk
as readily as we should in water. We encamped that
night in a rat-trap. The only direction in which there
was firm ground was to the north-east, the way we had
come.
During the evening and night fresh currents flowed
in behind us, and next morning we had to make haste
and start early to prevent ourselves from being entirely
surrounded by the water. We could easily have got
out ourselves, but not so the camels. That strange sali-
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