After wild sheep in the Altai and Mongolia; . a let me understandthrough Nicholas, the Russian interpreter, that themen flatly declined to go any further. He said thattheir ponies had been mercilessly overworked, thattheir backs were sore, that the few sheep, the onlyremnants of former prosperity, had been devouredby wolves during the night, and that the river wasaltogether unfordable. This was indeed a piece ofrebellion. Littledale and I would hear nothing ofit. We promised them a short march that day, andsaid that all those difficulties would be easily over-come by us, who were mighty white
After wild sheep in the Altai and Mongolia; . a let me understandthrough Nicholas, the Russian interpreter, that themen flatly declined to go any further. He said thattheir ponies had been mercilessly overworked, thattheir backs were sore, that the few sheep, the onlyremnants of former prosperity, had been devouredby wolves during the night, and that the river wasaltogether unfordable. This was indeed a piece ofrebellion. Littledale and I would hear nothing ofit. We promised them a short march that day, andsaid that all those difficulties would be easily over-come by us, who were mighty white chiefs, andthat no power could stop us. The dcmitcha thenconfided to us that the instigator of the whole move-ment was one of the Kalmuks who had deserted from REBELLIOUS KALMUKS ?°3 China into Russian territory, and that if he was caughtby the Celestial authorities he would be sentenced todeath. Whereupon I had him called up, and toldhim that so long as he remained with us and servedus faithfully we should protect him against the Chinese. •ACK-IONIES. Emperor himself. As for the horses, I said, theywould soon recover while resting in a permanentcamp, and food would be supplied to the men some-how or other. This seemed to have a cheering effecton them, especially as we expected to find a Kirghizencampment a few miles higher up, where we couldbuy some sheep. We struck camp accordingly at 204 AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI 7 , and soon found ourselves on the low banksof the Tchagan-Kol River. It was about 150 feetbroad at that place ; the water was high and muddy,and the current strong. I suggested trying to find aford, but the Marmot-skin dealer, whom we con-sulted, assured us that it was impossible to cross theriver at that time of year, and that, unless we wentup to its very sources, we should find no availableford. In this dilemma we risked not only losingour prestige, which we were continually obliged tomaintain in order to influence our men, but alsohaving to turn bac
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