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284 ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
away, they never failed to carry out my orders all the
same.
Several fishers from Kum-chapghan came to visit them,
and a new settlement, with flocks of sheep and horses and
canoes, grew up beside the new lake. For twelve days
past they had been leading an idyllic life, hunting, fishing,
and making long excursions in quest of us. One fine day,
however, brave Khodai Kullu turned up at their camp,
and all at once the situation was changed. In the course
of a few minutes they had seven horses ready and loaded
up, and with Khodai Kullu as their guide, they set off to
look for us. They had gone straight to our first camp
beside the lake, where we finished the measuring ; but
when they saw that we had left they followed the trail of
our camels, going through all the same zig-zag wanderings
that we had done.
We now set off together to look for a suitable place to
encamp in, for we desert wayfarers were tremendously
hungry and the rescue party had all sorts of nice things,
including eggs and fish, in their saddle-bags. On the way
we fell in with Khodai Kullu and the pack-horses. He was
sitting on a heap of bushwood, weeping bitterly, so over-
powered was he by the recollection of all the adventures
and hardships he had undergone during his five days’
hunting after the relief expedition. On and on he had
trudged, until at last, in sheer desperation, he had swum
across more than one lake. On the third day he was
sitting, tired and dispirited, beside one of these when
a flock of wild-duck swept over his head. As if by a miracle
one of the birds dropped straight down at his feet, its wing
either broken or injured. Wolfish with hunger, poor
Khodai Kullu flung himself upon it and devoured it, feathers
and all, just as it was. This gave him strength to continue
two days longer, and within that time he at length found
those he was in search of.
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