on a plateau about six miles east of our camp. The man himself had been 

 severely assaulted and robbed of his watch, but had made good his escape. 

 He knew nothing of the fate of the surveyor or of the other plane-table coolie. 

 His assailants had informed him that they intended to make an immediate 

 attack on our camp at Ma-chia-k'ou, in order to kill all the foreigners. On 

 hearing this, the servants became panic-stricken, and vainly implored me to 

 return forthwith to Lan-chou. The night was now pitch dark and the guides 

 flatly refused to assist me in searching for traces of the surveyor, and without 

 their aid it was impossible for me to find Hazrat Ah, as I knew nothing of the 

 neighbourhood. 



" I therefore sent back a mafoo (groom) towards Lan-chou with a letter to 

 Clark, urging him to obtain search-parties from the officials to look for the 

 missing man. 



" Meantime I prepared against the threatened attack on our camp by 

 distributing all available firearms amongst my party. I was now further 

 disquieted to find that Hazrat Ali, in spite of my express injunctions, had left 

 his weapons behind, and had not even a revolver with him. 



" Our defensive preparations became known to the villagers of Ma-chia- 

 k'ou and they probably warned our intending assailants, for although at about 

 2 a.m. we heard a considerable beating of drums, the noise died away and we 

 were not molested during the night. 



" As soon as it was light enough to see, I collected a search-party to beat 

 the ground to the east of our camp, and at the same time sent back the mules 

 and baggage to Lan-chou. 



" Just as our search-party was starting, the second survey-coolie arrived in 

 camp, covered with blood and showing signs of severe ill-usage. He had 

 contrived to escape whilst the mob were pursuing Hazrat Ali, but of the 

 latter's fate he knew nothing. After attending to the wounded man, I set out 

 accompanied by Muhammad Husein and three servants. The official escort 

 declined to come with us, and returned to Lan-chou with the baggage. We 

 started to ascend the hills to the east, but had not gone far when we were 

 overtaken by the ma/oo, bringing Clark's reply to my letter of overnight. I 

 was relieved to learn that the officials had promised every assistance in 

 searching for Hazrat Ali, and that soldiers were probably even then on their 

 way. 



" After a march of some miles through a broken and difficult country, 

 much intersected by precipitous ravines, we came upon traces of Hazrat Ali — 

 easily distinguishable by his hob-nailed boots. There were also footprints of a 



8 65 



