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358 ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
exertions of the previous night. Meanwhile, I was doing
my first " sentry go," marching backwards and forwards,
now close to the tent and then a little way from it. I had
no difficulty in keeping awake, for every moment I expected
an attack. But oh ! how slowly the minutes passed !
Yolbars barked with joy every time I went near him, while
Malenki quietly wagged his tail.
It had rained several times during the preceding day,
and now the sky became covered with inky black clouds,
which were lit up from the inside by \’i\-id flashes of light-
ning, while the thunder rumbled in the mountains all round.
The rain came down in torrents, leaping up from the ground,
and pattering upon the tent as if it meant to beat it flat.
Everything inside the tent was wet, for a fine spray like that
from an eau-de-Cologne bottle penetrated through the
canvas. But the sleepers cared not a rap for the rain ;
they only pulled their cloaks closer about them and went
on driving their pigs to market. The rain-drops clattered
noisily on a saucepan which had been left outside ; the dogs
expressed their discontent in low muffled growls ; and the
horses and mules switched their wet sides with their tails
when the rain-drops tickled them.
I lighted the candle and sat in the tent opening and wrote,
but at every the least suspicious sound up I jumped and took
a turn round. Oh ! those long dark nights, with the slow,
leaden-footed, crawling hours ! They seemed as if they
would never end ! As long as I live, I shall never forget
them, those solitary pacings to and fro in the rain between
Yolbars and Malenki and Malenki and Yolbars. That
night the moon gave very little assistance, for the clouds
were so tightly packed she could not get through ; there
was, however, a faint diffused light, just sufficient to make
the animals stand out somewhat darker against the back •
ground of the night.
All at once I heard a long-drawn, plaintive howl, though
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